Birds

Where we lived before we moved was surrounded by mature trees, lots of them, so many in fact that we felt a bit closed in.  Those trees housed squirrels, and birds, and probably opossums and other creatures as well.  The squirrels would chase each other up and down the trees, along the top of the privacy fence in the backyard, and generally all over the place.  They got into the bird food and would not be deterred, not even by a “squirrel-proof” feeder.  Not that that kept the birds away.  They just waited until the squirrels were done and then took their turn. 

When we moved, on December 15, and for a few weeks after, I sorely missed the birds.  There just seemed – none.  Well, crows, picking at the trash in the construction dumpsters.  They are everywhere.  But no chickadees, no robins (which do occasionally show up even in the winter here), no cardinals of which we had a Mr. and Mrs. pair at the old house.  No finches, nothing, not even sparrows.  The bird feeder remained untouched. 

There are no trees here.  Well, no real trees anyway.  In every front yard there is a stick which in a couple of years will turn into a tree, but nothing, yet, which would invite birds. 

It was eerily silent.  No bird cacophony at 4:30 a.m.  It made me sad. 

Then the snow came.  And suddenly, juncos showed up.  In droves.  I videotaped them through the studio window as they were helping themselves to the bird food in the feeder, and hopping along the ground, scratching at the snow to get to the seeds under the snow.  They seemed to travel from back yard to back yard – wherever there were bird feeders. 

Now that the snow is long gone, the juncos are gone too.  But, to my surprise, and delight, I hear other birds.  Don’t see them much yet, but I do hear them.  I wake up at 4:30 a.m., when it’s still dark outside, and I hear them do their early-morning singing, loud, unafraid. 

When I said that there are no trees here, that’s actually not really true.  Beyond the next street over, there is a grove, a long narrow stretch with mature trees – we think that must be where the deer hide, too.  And on the other side of the other street, there are more trees still. 

I shall keep the bird feeders stocked then