OP, your directions were a bit unclear as to what specifically we should be guessing about. That’s what prompted my other reply, but I was hoping someone else would chime in for the bird. Or that you yourself would say something like, “I meant the bird”.

Here’s a reply on the bird itself as a non-birder who has a pair of large bird feeders off their front porch.

My initial guess was an American Robin due to the belly coloring and grayish body, but I was able to recognize that the head coloring/patterns were off.

It looks like the correct answer is the Eurasian Nuthatch, which is something I don’t think I would have seen before given that I live well outside their range.

My phone is in bedtime mode (black and white) and the painting looks a lot more photorealistic to me. It’s quite the collection of kids, activities, and expressions.

Clearly the nut the bird is eating is a black oil sunflower seed. Case closed ;)

This was a good read. Anyone who’se purchased any of his anthologies will be familiar with some of the content, but the appeal to live a fulfilling life and how hard that can be as you get older was refreshing.