It’s dusk and the plum tree is empty now except for a large harvest of snow fruit accumulated in the various crooks and branches. But just a few minutes ago, one of these

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

was hanging upside down from a string of birdseed balls I have fastened to a branch of the tree, while several of these

 

 

 

 

a small flock of these

 

 

 

 

several more of these

 

 

 

 

and it was hard to see, but there were a lot of different small birds acting very annoyed in the snow nests and balls in the trees

 

 

 

 

 

while one of these watched from the snowy garden ground, waiting her turn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and I looked on from above, along with one of these on a higher branch on another tree

 

And of course, as I reached for my excellent camera with the telephoto lens, one of the little agitated fellows saw me, raised ruckus, and in a flash, the entire tree had exploded with feathers and they were all gone, leaving me to search the stockphoto selection to give an approximate idea of the mayhem that my bare little plum tree was home to this winter afternoon.

Note to self: More bird feeders, farther apart.