As Happy as a . . . Song Sparrow?

You've heard the expression "happy as a lark." But how about "happy as a song sparrow"? I don't know; this fellow looks AWFULLY happy.

Rain moved in overnight and it drizzled through the morning, so we stayed home on this day. It cleared for the afternoon, and I spent a half-hour sitting in the yard watching for the hummingbirds. Well, not many hummingbirds appeared, but there was plenty of bird action in the yard, nonetheless.

A pair of song sparrows have a nest in one of the bushes near the butterfly garden, and they were VERY active on this day, moving all through the yard and the butterfly garden, looking for bugs to feed the babies. They have also started to make use of the trellises to climb and perch on, which is pretty cool to see.

In this particular photo, one of the song sparrows is making use of the echinops as a perch. Echinops ritro (globe thistle) is a round, purple, sort of spiky flower; they are just loaded with nectar which the bees ADORE. (You can see two honey bees enjoying the bloom to the right of the little bird.)

And . . . doesn't it almost seem like the song sparrow is . . . smiling?

The song to accompany this photo of a happy bird is Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac, singing Songbird.