By Elizabeth Prata
It is a gorgeous day, 75 degrees and low humidity. Full sun, light breeze. If I could order up a day, this would be it. I cleaned off my patio from winter leaves and neglect, and sat in the sun reading outside. I have a patch of untouched forest behind me that the University Extension owns. It is full of birds. I see male and female cardinals, crows, Carolina wrens, Eastern Phoebes. Above: hawks. Once, an owl.
Last fall I turned all my plant pots stored outside, upside down. I'd learned that birds like to nest in them I didn't turn the window planter upside down but I had put my old bird feeder into it. I learned upon coming out onto the patio that a bird had indeed made a nest inside. It flew out angrily and stayed chirping at me for a while at the edge of the forest. I looked inside the nest but there were no eggs. I don't know of that means there will be eggs soon, or if they had hatched and the little birdies had already flown away. But there was definitely a grown bird living in it. It almost hit me in the forehead when it flew off.
A cardinal flew down and was calling to its mate higher in the trees. It's a bit blurry because they move fast and I was trying to catch him before he flew off or went behind some leaves.
I heard some crows in the thick of the forest but it was a call I'd not heard yet. I xoomed in and it turns out it was a juvenile wanting a feeding.
I think this was the dad bird. He was to the right of the feeding pair. When they both left, he stood there a while: guarding?
Crows really are very smart birds. Now, I don't know if this is the start of a strangler fig or not...
Or if this mess is a strangler fig...
But there's life and death all around. Just sitting for a while you see nature its all its full force and glory. But I look forward to more patio sitting and a few trips to the State Park near me before the heat sets in.
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