Uruguay has a huge amount of birds.  I like birds, but have to admit I'm a little bit scared of them.  Irrational fear, I know.  The old Hitchcock movie, The Birds, forever ruined me. This morning Gracie, our Border Collie, and I decided we were going to be birdwatcher photographers.  Gracie has a huge heart and an abundance of patience.  She's the perfect birdwatcher.  I, on the other hand possess a semi-big heart for birds, and little patience for waiting to photograph them.  
   We positioned ourselves on the side porch where there is a large bush with branches shooting upwards.  The birds love to perch there and swoop in to eat the cat food on the porch table.  The cats have become oblivious to them after the first 100 unsuccessful tries at catching one.  Gracie, being very intelligent, always watches the cats' attempts and saves herself any wasted energy trying to catch birds.  She prefers to watch.
   The birds didn't seem to mind that we were there.  The only hesitance came with actually landing on the cat food dish and eating.  They passed on that, but posed on the branches for photos.  They were secretly hoping that Gracie and I would get ever so bored and leave.
   And so - after all these years of taking photos, these are my first serious attempts at birdies!  Gracie agrees that we should to this again!  (We have no idea what these birds are!)