Birds?

I love birds.  I am fascinated by them.  I recently started to use the app on my phone called "Merlin Bird ID".    It records the sounds and tells me (or anyone using the app) what bird is singing.  I have started to write down what birds I have heard every morning.    They are usually the same crew, with more variety some mornings.

I also have a bunch of bird feeder and a bird bath.  This morning I got these pictures of a cardinal having a grand time splashing around in the water.

After sitting and listening for a while, I asked myself "what is the point of birds?".   No that doesn't mean I don't think there should be birds.   Just what do they do?  Why are there so many varieties?   

I vaguely remember learning something about Darwin's finches.    A simple explanation is this:  Darwin observed some finches on one side of an island and some on the opposite side of the island.  The birds were identical in all their featured but one.  Their   beaks were different.  Darwin was able to conclude that the birds had adapted to the food available on the part of the island where they lived.   So they had to be able to eat and crack different seeds etc and needed different tools - their beaks.

I am sure I am oversimplifying it, and I am sure it took a long long time to evolve the distinctive changes.   It makes you wonder.

And our birds here in Northern Virginia are no doubt different than birds in different regions of Virginia and the world.

We have finches here.  They are called "American Gold Finch".   But they are not gold all year round.  In the spring and summer they start to develop yellowish feathers and then they become bright yellow through the summer.  In the fall and winter their yellow fades and turns back into a duller brown.   How does this happen?  I guess like Darwin's finches, these finches have evolved into a color changing bird for both attractiveness for breeding in the warmer months, and   camouflage in the winter when they leaves fall.

If I was better at formatting this blog I would not have had those pictures of the cardinal strewn all over the page.  Maybe one day I will figure if out.

A bird that I find very regal and beautiful in the mocking bird.   

My Mocking Bird friend, on the bird bath