One ticked-off cardinal

He's been knocking at the kitchen window for the last few days, with his olive-drab mate sitting a little higher and farther back in the dogwood. They come to nibble, and stay to battle with the rivals they see in the glass.

So BANG goes the bill, and then BANG again.

I guess it comes with the territory -- as do the deer defoliating our little evergreens (I counted 15 at the buffet the other night as I went down to get the mail, sans camera of course), and the nesting geese on the lake (now down to one, fruitlessly honking for its mate; Ray thinks the turtles snagged the one that's MIA), the rabbits hunkered under the boxwoods, doubtlessly licking their chops in anticipation of the impatiens that are about to go in (looks as if we've had our last frost -- I hope). . . .

Not quite the same as pelicans and palm trees, but it'll do for a while.