Birds and a Banjo

For the last couple mornings Goldfinches have swarmed my birch tree in the backyard. They apparently love the buds. I wonder if that affects how many leaves I'll have this year? And this evening, I looked out my bathroom window to see 10-15 Western Kingbirds swarming the tree in the corner of our yard. It's a banner year for backyard birdwatching, I guess. Maybe they feel safe from the cats because of the chickens? If so, they are sorely mistaken because Fluffy brought one of the finches in on Monday.

By the time I found my camera there were only three Western Kingbirds in the tree. You can just make out one in the middle left, sort of above the squirrel nest peeking out from a farther tree. You can see it's yellow breast.

In other news, I worked on my clawhammer technique today. We're supposed to learn "Old Molly Hare" by this weekend and post videos of ourselves for Cold Antler Farm's Banjo Equinox. Um, that may be a horrible stretch for me, but I did work on my banjo today. And my index finger on my left hand is tender from trying to push down strings. Oh I have such a long way to go. Here is a not-so-flattering picture of me with my banjo, just to prove I'm not making this up.