The snow on the ground not only brings the wild birds to our backyard feeders and suet-holders but also makes them a little easier to spot. A West Grove pal who keeps a tripod-mounted camera at the ready, pointed out his kitchen window, captured a marvelous Christmas Day shot of a red-bellied woodpecker with a seed in his beak!
Some people love to post these bird photos on social media, and I've noticed that bordering-on-contentious disputes will arise among enthusiasts about a bird's exact identity: Which type of wren or woodpecker is it? Male or female? What's your evidence? When they start using Latin names, you know there are some serious birders involved.
I'm reminded of that amusing passage from Jay McInerney's "Bright Lights, Big City," in which the hero is a fact-checker at a highbrow magazine: "Just last month an innocuous sketch on birdfeeder activity raised a storm. Readers protested that a certain type of finch couldn't possibly have been at a feeder in Stonington, Connecticut, when the writer claimed to have seen a pair. The letters are still coming in."
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