We woke up this morning to the sound of birds singing.  “So what?” you may be wondering.  In the whole time we’ve been here, we’ve never heard birds particularly sing the sun up.

When we opened the blinds, there were hundreds of robins everywhere.  So when did you folks up north first notice the robins were all gone?

There was also a new bird with a red head and a reddish back.  There was another one with a brown crest on its head and its eyes blacked out.  I wish I knew birds better, but at least now I know where they go for the winter!

Mark has been keeping a water fountain outside hoping birds would use it, and a few have, but this morning it was as full as a summer swimming pool full of children.  It was a remarkable sight!

This afternoon I went down to the range with Mark to help with setting the trap for him to practice his trap shooting.  They have these miniature clay frisbees they call “pigeons” and you set one on a spring-loaded machine.  When the shooter is ready he says “Pull!” and you send the clay pigeon flying.  The first time Mark tried it this summer, he had a hard time hitting the clays.  He hasn’t had a lot of practice since, but he has taught shooters how to do it, so today he hit nearly every one out of the sky!  He had me try a couple times, but I guess I don’t do as well with moving objects as I do with still ones.  Even while we were out there making all that noise, we had to be careful not to hit the flocks of real birds flying around.  It will be interesting to see what tomorrow brings!