A Little Birdie Told Me...

...to stop messing with the blog and go do something more productive.

I know I already posted this evening, but I wanted to upload a photo of this little guy as well. He's been acting as foreman for the yard work these last few weeks. When he is around, he never seems to be more than three feet away from whatever I'm working on. Today, I was planting a star magnolia in the front yard, and as I dug the hole, he sat on the edge of the pot, watching it all. Occasionally he'd hop down to peer right into the hole to see if I dug up anything interesting. He's scooped up ants and bugs and tugged at the occasional worm.

He's also really camera shy. He'll hop around my feet while I'm working, but heaven forbid I should go inside to get the camera. He takes off the moment he sees it in my hand! I don't know who he's trying to hide from...

But I did manage to snap this somewhat blurry picture of him this afternoon. I kept the camera in my pocket, and while sitting crosslegged next to the hole for the tree, I snuck it out and took a quick pic. All was fine until he heard the click of the camera; he looked up at me, and flew off in a shot. Oh well. Maybe next time.

Does anyone know what kind of bird this is?

I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance
than I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn.
— Henry David Thoreau