One of the many pleasures I have enjoyed in retirement has been being able to spend more time watching backyard birds. One of the most popular hobbies, birding is not only educational but exciting when a new bird is added to your life list, and relaxing as well. It does have a calming influence because you have to spend time outdoors quietly studying minute details and listening to their calls to identify birds.
Every year when the fruit trees in our neighborhood are in bloom I hear the newly arrived oriole before I see it. The call is unmistakable, so sharp and clear. We have had an oriole visit the yard this year for water in the bird bath and I hope it will stay. They build a unique nest on a tree with loose swinging branches. A pair lived in our yard many years ago in a nest hanging from a weeping willow branch that swayed as the wind blew. The ball-shaped nest looked as if it had been created by a fiber artist using twine.
The hummingbirds were late arriving here this year, but on the first day that there was a bloom open on the honeysuckle a ruby throat appeared, completely ignoring the sugar water in the feeder. They love the dark pink honeysuckle, and when the red bee balm is in bloom they return several times a day for its nectar.
The most important thing anyone can do for birds in the summer is have water available for them. We have several birdbaths, which we fill from our rain barrel, and they’re seldom empty. At times the sparrows all jump in at once for a community bath and splash for all they’re worth. We like to watch the ‘pecking order’ of the birds that use the birdbath at the same time. Some of the larger birds like robins and mourning doves will not frighten away sparrows, but blue jays and grackle are real bullies when it comes to sharing.
Speaking of bullies, a sharp-shinned hawk was in the yard in May and he hid in the rhododendron bush which borders the feeders and birdbath. There were small birds flying every which way when they realized he was there. Sharpshins like to zoom in on small birds at feeders because they’re easy prey.
Two birdhouses are occupied so far, and a house wren has been busily flying between two other houses taking in twigs for nesting. The male builds nests of fine twigs in several spots in an area to entice a female. It was so funny watching him try to take a twig in that wouldn’t fit straight on and how he attempted to get it in. He finally dropped it and picked it up in pieces and took it in. He then sang his little heart out after each addition. Watching him reminded me of a children’s story by Thornton Burgess where Jenny Wren says of Mr. Wren, "He is singing so hard that he is shaking all over. There is one thing true about us Wrens, and this is that when we do something we do it with all our might." Jenny Wren looked over at Mr. Wren fondly. "I do wish he’d be careful. Sometimes I am afraid he’ll overdo."
With the arrival of mosquitoes we see swallows cruising around above our deck when we sit out in the evening. They and bats, which we see later in the summer, eat many hundreds of mosquitoes each day. Other birds also feed on the winter moth caterpillars that have been chewing up our trees’ leaves, and flickers eat grubs in the lawn. So, for the food and water you provide, birds do earn their keep as well as bring the joy of watching them into our lives.
