Nature: Goldfinch

Today a beautiful, little goldfinch visited me outside the bathroom window. He even was kind enough to wait for me to fetch my camera so I could gently capture his image through the screen.

From John Keats' "I Stood Tip-Toe Upon a Little Hill" (1817)

Sometimes goldfinches one by one will drop
From low hung branches; little space they stop;
But sip, and twitter, and their feathers sleek:
Then off at once, as in a wanton freak:
Or perhaps, to show their black, and golden wings,
Pausing upon their yellow flutterings.
Were I in such a place, I sure should pray
That nought less sweet, might call my thoughts away.
Than the soft rustle of a maiden's gown
Fanning away the dandelion's down;
Than the light music of her nimble toes
Patting against the sorrel as she goes.
How she would start, and blush, thus to be caught
Playing in all her innocence of thought. (5. 27-40)

You can read the entire poem here if you wish.

Nature: And with the rain came the ducks

Even though the weather on Sunday morning was beautiful, the afternoon brought us some scattered thundershowers here in Detroit. Jonathan has a drainage ditch next to his property and with a good rain it becomes a nice little stream. After the rains stopped, we had a mallard pair show up to take advantage of the prime swimming. Someone in the neighborhood must be feeding them...I walked outside and expected them to fly away but they walked right up on the patio towards me! I got some great closeups :) (Click on the photo to get even better feather detail.)