Thursday, July 7, 2011

TIME FOR A BATH!

Now that patio weather has arrived, Moth and I take our 3:00 p.m cup of tea outside and enjoy the pleasures of being retired.  Each afternoon a flock of 10 - 15 wrentits arrive to join us.  First stop for them is the waterfall where they all vie for a spot under the cool water or in a little water hollow.


Wrentits are quite tiny birds and have a relatively long tail.  They duck and splash and push one another out of the water. They soon look quite bedraggled!


Some times there are as many as five or six trying to find a spot in the water


The photos are not easy to take as the birds are so small and the dappled light and shade mixed with the birds' somewhat nondescript colors makes for good camouflage.



There are actually at least five of them in this shot.  Count tails and beaks. When they finish playing in the waterfall they move over to the Cape Honeysuckle and then on to the bouganvillia.
 After a few sips of nectar and maybe an insect or two, off they go to the next yard.
Birds are creatures of habit like most other animals and this little show is enacted for us every afternoon -- just as we re-enact out tea-sipping ceremony!



This is my latest art work.  It is of the Queen's Hotel in Prestwick, Scotland which was located on the sea front or Esplanade. My parents lived here in the 60's  by which time I was married and had moved to Canada. My father was the hotel manager . It has since been turned into a Nursing Home.  I have never been there, but to me it seemed a very bare and empty picture, so I added a couple of bushes and a sun umbrella to liven it up a little.

I'll be back!

17 comments:

Gillian Mowbray said...

What gorgeous little birds. We call such birds LBJs (little brown jobs) but they're none-the-less beautiful.

What a splendid hotel that must have been in its heyday! x

Autumn Leaves said...

Love the painting and knowing your parents used to live there! The little wrens are delightful!

snafu said...

How facinating, birds are amazing creatures. We get flocks of sparrows in dry weather all having a dust bath in our flower bed and making a mess over the path by spraying soil all over it. Fancy the hotel becoming a nursing home and what I said about your painting is demonstrated quite clearly in that picture.

jane said...

Love your bird pics - the wrentits look similar to our long tailed tits - what a lovely sight to view while sipping tes - your painting is good - great shame the hotel is now a nursing home - Jane

Jane and Chris said...

Always love bird pictures! How lucky that you get to watch them everyday. I can imagine the hotel in the 1930's...Ivor Novello being played at the piano as elegant ladies swish past in their evening gowns.
Jane x

jabblog said...

I thought of long-tailed tits, too. How lovely to have them visit each afternoon.

Wanda said...

Love your little friends bathing at the waterfall. What a nice way to spend your 3 oclock tea time.

Your drawing is so crisp and clean. I love the colors and details and that you added some people.

photowannabe said...

I would say that that is a delightful tea ceremony every afternoon. To have the sweet little guys join you is priceless.

kaybee said...

Love those lttle birds. They remind me of the blackcap chickadees who sit in the tree outside my office window every morning, jabbering away at me until I take the birdfeeder outdoors and hang it up (have to keep it from the raccoons overnight).

Love your drawing of the Queens Hotel- wonderful rendition. It has been filed in my "places I have lived" file!

claude said...

What a pleasant tea time, Chris !
These very tiny birds are so cute.

claude said...

Ups ! Your a very talente drawer, Chris.

Anonymous said...

I felt fortunate to see the Wrentits. Never see them here. We have Carolina Wrens and House Wrens. They are also very small birds and chatter a lot.

I like the part where you and the man of the house sit on the patio for afternoon tea.

We don't do that around here. Nobody likes tea except iced tea and the patio is a baking oven and the air is filled with pollen and other nasal pests that send us to the doctor if we are outside too much.

Morning's Minion said...

I love the idea of afternoon tea--as opposed to just snatching a cupful on the run. There is something quite restful about a designated time to sit down, cradle a mug of steaming fragrant tea--all the better if one has a window view or can be outside.
Trying to recall if we saw these little birds on any of our hasty visits to CA or Yuma, AZ.
I'm glad you added shrubbery to the hotel grounds--its seems as though it should have been there already!

Patty said...

Very nice to have live entertainment while having your tea. Like the painting very much. I would imagine you could put bushes or trees anyplace you like since you are doing the drawing/painting. Even if things were pretty bare in the 60's surely by now there are shrubs, bushes and trees growing. Hope you've had a wonderful week-end. Still pretty warm here, at 7:15 pm it's around 90.

Beverley Baird said...

Love your photos of the wee birds! What a treat to sit and have tea and watch these little birds!
Love your painting as well. Great to have something like this from your past.
Thanks so muchfor your supportive words! I appreciate them!

Amanda said...

Lovely painting - wish I had the time for it

Dartford Warbler said...

I love your bathing wrens. English wrens are such shy, secretive little birds. I can`t imagine them ever taking a shower in a public place!