2 p.m.
backyard
70's comfortable, no wind
Sitting under the pepper tree listening to all the bird chitter chatter waiting for them to come back out again. (They all flew away into hiding when I came out.) I hear the faint flutter of wings, light bird feet land, shadows fling through the patch of sunlight on the page in my lap.
The spicy smelling pepper tree with ripening tiny berries attracts more birds now than during the summer. I've seen several starlings these past few days in addition to the growing flock of house sparrows & finches - gold finches, mocking birds (a bold jay screeches at me now) and a black phoebe have all graced the yard with their presence lately. I also spotted a bright yellow newcomer yesterday - maybe some kind of oriole, judging from my bird guide.
I sit and watch shadow and flashes of movement through the trees hoping that the longer I sit quietly, the bolder the birds will become. A small flock of starlings returns to the fruit tree in the other corner of the yard - flit about a bit and fly back off the way they came - I wait, hoping they'll some back again to the pepper tree. A moment, the flutter of wings, a pair does show up, hope about and seem to disappear in the branches.
Very quiet for a long while, all I hear is the heavy construction down the street (a neighbor getting a pool put in?) and the soft trickling of the fountain in the tub pond. Then quiet questioning chirps, soft wings and tiny feet again.
Two tiny sparrows hide in the pepper tree - obvious to my eye but nearly invisible through the camera lens.
The black phoebe likes to take a perch on top of the swing set, catch a pepper-berry on the fly and return to his swing set perch to consume it. His silhouette is unmistakable but I cannot render it from memory. He is easily startled away by other birds and doesn't stay in one place long enough for me to make a sketch.
Sparrows, chubby and small, are the most comfortable with my presence. Several fly about their business in the yard, resting on the fence to look at me, gather and splash in the sunlit bird bath, then all fly off at some silent signal.
