The Birds!

This summer, I seem to be fascinated with birds. We sleep with the windows open, and every morning as the sun begins to creep up over the horizon, the birds begin to chirp and sing, building into a virtual symphony of sound. Their music is one of the things that I love about summer.

At the edge of our back yard is a gigantic old white birch tree, now dying due to a disease that has decimated the birch trees in our area. But, even though it is slowly dying, its bare branches now serve as a preferred perch for the local bird population. Mornings and evenings, you will often find me sitting out on the deck, scanning its silhouette with my binoculars.

On any given morning, you will see flickers and red-bellied woodpeckers at the peak, tapping away and occasionally letting out their loud calls. The pigeons exit our barn early in the morning, cooing and sounding a bit like owls, and crows and ravens use the top branches to scope out the territory before they begin their hunt.

And, talking about hunting—one morning, we were leaving the house and looked up to see four enormous turkey vultures occupying the birch tree. We were mesmerized as they posed, fanned their wings out (almost a six-foot spread), and then soared and floated over the barn and the fields behind our house. I guess the hunting was good that day! As ugly as turkey vultures are, they were fascinating to watch.

We have several resident cardinals in our yard, and their brilliant red bodies are easy to spot. Their distinctive songs ring out all day long as they circle the yard, moving from the birch tree to the old English walnut to the silver maple to the basswood.

There are hummingbirds that flit in and out of the lilac bushes that line the back edge of our deck. Sharing their space are little sparrows and chickadees and the occasional nuthatch and goldfinch. Blue jays fly in and out, challenging the other birds at a bird feeder, and I have seen a real blue bird join its robin cousins in worm hunting.

Birds abound, and I am thoroughly enjoying their sounds and flights!