Tuesday Slice: Birdwatching

 

They arrive around 7a

I scare them off if I am running late

Wings all aflutter as I step outside

It used to take them a good half hour to return

Now, maybe five or ten minutes

Bluejay is usually first to the feeder

Followed by a dole of doves

(Though I prefer to call them a congregation

The way they line up on either side of the monkeybars

All facing the same way, as if in pews)

They could be a circus too

The trapeze bar hasn't seen this much activity in decades

Many haven't figured out the feeder roof is slippery

Almost doing the splits as they slide down

Once the doves have had their fill

They make room for the tiny black-crested titmouse

Carolina chickadees and Bewick's wrens

Red-headed house finches and house sparrows

Ladderback and red-bellied woodpeckers

And--just this week--a cardinal pair

The oak tree above the playscape 

Serves as a waiting room for the birds

Who are too timid to wait in the pews

Some are brave enough to perch 

On the edge of the nearby bird bath until

A red shouldered hawk flies above

Or a dogwalker crunches the gravel

On the hike n bike next to our yard

I fill the feeder each morning

It is almost empty by midday

But still they come, pecking at the last of the seeds

Until the waning sun beckons them to roost elsewhere.