Redpolls Enchant Cayenne
#snowmicro Cayenne and Mike
Cayenne watched the flock of tiny Redpolls eating the hulled sunflower seeds mixed with thistle she had sprinkled across the snow mounds off the back porch. She loved watching these tiny finches, smaller than Chickadees. The tiny bird wasn’t bothered by the extreme temperatures; today, it was fifteen degrees Fahrenheit.
“Watching your Redpolls?” Mike hugged his fiancé from behind, holding a mug of coffee beneath her nose.
“Mmm, thanks, Babe. Yeah, it’s so cold. They are packing those seeds into their pouches and flying off. I love seeing that bright red head against the snow!”
Mike started a fire in the woodstove, and soon their little place was so hot Cayenne changed her turtleneck sweater.
The sun was low in the sky this far north, even though it was eleven a.m. “Snow clouds out there,” Mike called out.
“Maybe. I’ll let you know.” Cayenne went out front and sniffed the air outside. “I think you’re right, Mike. You better clear the drive again.”
Just as he started up the snow blower, large flakes began falling. Hoar frost had turned the birch trees into feathery frosty fingerlings, spreading their crusted forms and throwing shadows.
As sunset crawled in at 3 p.m., Cayenne and Mike drank coffee with freshly baked scones laden with wild blueberries they had picked last summer and frozen. They kneeled on their window seat and watched the Redpolls darting in for the seed before night fell. The thermometer was dropping.
“Look! It’s bedtime! She’s tunneling under the snow.
About the Creator
Andrea Corwin
🐘Wildlife 🌳 Environment 🥋3rd°
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Comments (4)
Amazing how birds weighing less than 2 triple a batteries can withstand sun zero temperatures. Lovely warm fireplace story
Awww, the Redpolls are so adorable! Loved this chapter!
Lovely story - filled with warmth like a hot cocoa smothered in whipped cream. I have not seen the 'feathery frosty fingerlings' of a hoar frost since the last time we lived in Germany. That is a perfect descriptor. I could see them in my mind's eye as I read it. I would love to see redpolls someday. I did not realize that they are smaller than chickadees!
This was lovely!