The Elegant and the Electrifying

I noticed a young Rose Breasted Grosbeak near the feeder the other day.  The red under the wing caught my eye as it fluttered doing its "begging" for food from a parent.  It is hard to believe that for most birds the young are raised and it won't be long and they will head south again.

Soon the parent was at the feeder and then after gorging a bit, would fly to the young one in the tree. 

It was sort of a "cat and mouse" game as I tried to figure out which branch the young one had gone to next.  The red coloring of the baby is starting to change on the breast.

Nature can be both sweet and gentle and strong and terrifying.  I noticed this tree on the way home near the road that had obviously been hit by lightning.  There were branches on the ground that appeared to have literally been blown out of the trunk not broken off.

"Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can split a tree."  Cousin Pat suggested that new lyric to the familiar poem I quoted recently on the blog. There were big pieces of bark and branches 30 feet from this tree.  The thunder storms seem so much more loud at the park.  No doubt because we are in a camper and the Lord has a lot more tall trees to pick on than at home.