Frustrated, we went back to the bird store to sort out our “broken” feeders. Their solution? More feeders, of course: tubes for hulled sunflower seeds and a wire-mesh feeder for nijer seeds, a favorite of finches, we were told. We added seed-catching trays to the bottoms and rodent-discouraging domes to the tops and clever wire branches for perching… and the hungry birds came — first one or two at a time and eventually in small flocks. We were in business!

The fearless little chickadees were our earliest visitors. They ate daintily, selecting a single seed from the feeder, then flying off to enjoy it in private. Next came the finches — greenish lesser goldfinches, house finches with glowing red heads, and bright yellow American goldfinches — to squabble over perches at the feeders, munch on sunflower-seeds, or sip from the water dish. An oak titmouse visited occasionally, and flocks of the tiny, long-tailed, grey fluff balls known as bushtits eventually found their way to the suet. A red-breasted nuthatch fiercely defended his dominion over the seed cake. Sparrows arrived in varieties we couldn’t tell apart — though we did recognize the white-crowned sparrows who migrated through. Dark-eyed juncos would peck up seeds that had spilled to the deck, while the occasional brown towhee would nibble at seeds in the catch-tray. We joked about these “Godzilla birds,” which seemed enormous compared to the other visitors. Special sightings included ruby-crowned kinglets and even a young Cooper’s hawk.

All this activity seems to have increased the general avian traffic in our yard — or perhaps we’re just paying more attention. One autumn Wednesday, we were visited by a flock of cedar waxwings, who had arrived to feast on berries from the tree outside my office window and to enjoy a communal bath in our fountain. I had been longing to see these elegant masked fellows, who always look so sleek and unruffled in photographs. As I watched, a waxwing reached out and plucked a berry from the bush, then swallowed it in a single gulp — before gobbling up another and then another. Elegant they may be, but they’re also gluttons.

Sitting at my desk, I’m often delighted by the soft hum of wings that announces the arrival of a hummingbird at the feeder that hangs at eye level outside my window. We’re only three feet from one another, so my slightest movement tends to startle the bird into flight. But for a few moments, especially when the sun is just right, I’m blessed with a gleam of ruby and the knowledge that we’re helping to provide this tiny creature with his daily calories.

The birds put on a show better than any television, and we spent many happy hours in the fall and winter watching them from our kitchen table. Delighted by the endless entertainment, we bought still more feeders for the deck, for the front porch, and for the side of the house, so by November our feeders numbered sixteen. Yes, I admit that we might have gone a bit overboard.

Then came the fountain.

Bath time

Running water is a wonderful way to attract birds, so we searched out the Florence & New Italian Art Company, a family-run business that has been producing garden sculptures in all shapes and sizes for more than a century. We carefully considered the options, curbed our impulse to install an enormous water feature in the backyard, and instead selected a smallish fountain that could sit on our deck. Its design needed some modification to make it optimally bird-friendly, but the artisans were accommodating and within a few weeks our fountain was ready.

We set it up, filled it with water, plugged in the pump, and listened with pleasure to its gentle splashing. Once I had surrounded the fountain’s base with pots of succulents, geraniums, and pansies, we had a miniature garden with water feature right on our deck. And, oh my, how the birds love it! They come to drink, they come to splash around in the water; they come singly and in flocks — and we never tire of watching them.  

This week, young Western bluebirds have come regularly to perform their evening ablutions in the fountain. This is a special thrill, because we have never before seen them come up to the deck — though they do love the blackberries that grow in abundance in the backyard. We were even lucky enough to see a mama bluebird fly up to the deck rail carrying a blackberry, which she then fed to her youngster.

Fountains are, of course, not the only spots where birds bathe. My friend Judith has created a beautiful backyard garden with potted plants, and it draws lots of birds. One morning after the sprinklers had left her lemon bush drenched, we watched this resourceful Anna’s hummingbird making the most of the moisture on the lemon leaves for her morning bath.

The myriad joys of watching birds

So why do I love birding? Let me count the reasons:

1. Birding is easy: there are lots of birds around, even if many are “only” the ubiquitous LBBs. Just look out the window!
2. It’s something fun to share with Craig.
3. Birds are beautiful and fascinating! And binoculars reveal all sorts of unsuspected details that you can’t see with the naked eye.
4. Birding provides a lens through which to view the natural world, both in our backyard and when we hike or camp or travel. It offers something specific to which to pay attention — beyond just “that’s so pretty!”
5. It gives me a way to begin to understand habitats and ecosystems, as well as a hook to get me interested in subjects that are otherwise rather abstract, such as habitat destruction and population decline.
6. Each bird-y tidbit I learn increases my personal body of knowledge. Thus do I fill in gaps on my map of the known world.
7. Photographing birds is challenging and fun. So is drawing birds.

One final note: I feel a little self-conscious posting all these bird-y remarks (and believe me, there are more to come!), when I am very much a birding novice. In my uncomfortable imagination, supercilious experts raise their eyebrows and look down their beaks at my ignorance. And perhaps there are such in the birding world, but I’m guessing that it’s mainly my insecurities doing this imagining (and a carryover from my academic life). My actual impression is that birders are generous with their knowledge and happy to make room for fledglings in the collective nest. Plus, this is what I intended for this blog: to allow myself to be a beginner and relish my not-knowing as a starting point for curiosity and exploration. So, as I said, there’s more to come!