Birds at my Window

The Dutch artist Marjolein Bastin has done a series for Hallmark called "The Birds at my window" That phrase runs through my mind quite a lot here on Allaire Court North. I call our backyard the wasteland if that give you any indication of its condition. If we were staying we would have laid sod and started landscaping, but since we are renters it seemed silly to put that much money and effort into something that was not ours to keep. So we let Mother Nature have her way back there. the front part closest to the house is sand mixed with crab grass and weeds and the back part is a mini native woodland full of oaks and pines and sticky bushes with which I am not familiar . The whole thing is tied together with Jessamine vines that run throughout. Its the State flower for South Carolina and in the spring the yellow blossoms of the Jessamine cover everything including the back 40 of our wasteland. The one thing we have done to alter nature back there is put in a bird feeder and bird bath next to the bird house that was already in situ. Since Milford is not with us to scare away our customers we have plenty of them. Its been a real pleasure to watch all the wildlife in our yard. We have lots of the more common varieties. There are mourning doves, crows, sparrows and in season there are robins and cowbirds, junco's and chickadees. They are a joy to watch, but the real thrill comes when I catch sight of a flash of color and realize I've spotted a newcomer, somebody I've never noticed before. Here lately the one I look for is the Blue Grosbeak. He and his drab colored bride come and go so quickly I hardly get a good look. That's probably for the best. If he hung around too long the joy of spotting him would undoubtedly diminish in proportion to the length of his stays.