Sundays are quite typically spent lazing around the house. Sometimes recovering from too much wine from the night before. This happens to be the case for this Sunday. The dull ache in my head won’t go away. Right at this moment I am sitting on the back porch watching the various birds in the yard. We have quite a diversity; chickadees, goldfinches, red-wing blackbirds, mourning doves, green-tailed towhees, black-headed grosbeaks, bright red finches, orioles, northern flickers, robins, pine siskins, cowbirds and some sparrows. Most of them have been taking turns at the feeders. The chickadees don’t mind my company at all. They are fun to watch as they hold a sunflower seed in their feet and pound it open with their beaks. They sound like woodpeckers. A couple of red-tailed hawks circled overhead for a few minutes. A rufus hummingbird and broad-tail hummingbird have been taking turns at the sugar water. The most curious bird behavior on display is being performed by a crazy flock of swallows. There must be at least 75 of these birds flying all over the sky. They have been landing in a large bush together and then, for apparently no reason, they all take off together. They do a few laps around the house and then return to the bush. This has been going on all day. It looks like fun.
It’s too hot to do much more than sit and watch. There’s a nice breeze, however. The swaying of the willow branches is almost hypnotic. If I close my eyes and just listen, I’m surrounded by bird calls, the buzzing of insects and the rustle of the tall grass blowing in the wind. I could probably fall asleep out here quite easily. In fact, the cat has been doing just that. Not even the birds can keep her attention. I tried to do some reading, but I keep getting distracted by the flutter of feathers as another bird lands in the tree in front of me. The tree is a rubber tree that was taking over the living room. We trimmed her branches and stuck her out on the back porch for the summer. Her name is Audrey and the birds lover her.
It’s an absolutely perfect day.
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