Two Great Blue Herons put on quite a show at the Celery Farm today, fishing near the water's edge in Lake Appert and the Allendale Brook.

On Monday, I wrote:

Another art-related mystery, courtesy of the excellent  Morris Art Museum in Augusta, Ga., which I visited earlier this month.

The painting above is entitled "The Sunny South," by an anonymous artist, painted during Reconstruction. You can see the painting online here.

I think that the birds in the painting (enlarged below) are a key to its meaning. Can you identify them? Do you think they symbolize something? If so, what?

Here's what I interpreted the birds in the painting to be, and to mean.

At first I thought the white birds were doves, but they just don't look quite right.

I think the darker birds are in the swallow family, but they are not quite Barn Swallows. So I am thinking the birds are purely metaphorical. The painting is of the Reconstruction era, and the white birds are still eating out of a bowl and trying to keep the dark birds away, forcing them to eat off the ground.  But that's just me.

While you feast today, what about Pook and all the other cats? How do they celebrate?

How about Turducken cat food?

Not to worry: It ain't free-range Turducken, thank goodness! And it's minced, though I'm not sure what that is.

My "Bird Watcher" column in the Thanksgiving Day edition of The Record is in praise of those drab little Dark-eyed Juncos we see flitting around North Jersey these.

The column is in the Better Living section. The photo above is by Barbara Dilger. (Thanks, Barbara!)

You can download it here:

Download JWright Bird Watcher 112819-BL04-0

By popular demand, here's my recipe for free-range Turducken, which is especially cherished this time of year. I believe it is gluten-free. (Illustration by Miwa Couweleers. Thanks, Miwa!)

Roast  Turducken

Ingredients:

1 Wild Turducken, plucked (12-16 pounds)

7 common taters

2 snake eyes, diced

4 Jersey tomatoes, drawn and quartered

3 cups extra-moist water

½ cup balsamic undressing

1 grain of salt

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Catch Turducken.