And sings the tune without the words,
and never stops at all.
- Emily Dickenson
Hope springs eternal in a garden and within that garden, eager birds hopefully can find all the nesting materials to create a home, sweet, home. Outside my library window I can secretly indulge in gazing upon birds in my hidden parterre.
This little mid-morning sun courtyard brims with ever blooming 'Knock Out' roses, a glossy tea olive, impatiens, fragrant rosemary, Carolina jasmine, and African irises iced with pine bark mulch. To the right side, underneath my window is a small cement birdbath, more appropriate for the birds to dip into than bathe. They do come to wade though - Carolina wrens, titmice, blue jays, cardinals and mockingbirds - splashing around like playful children not noticing that they are leaving more water outside the tub than in it. They take flight only when my voyeur shadow looms in the window even though I try not to loom sinisterly.
I innocently creep up silent and stealthily to take part in their light-hearted enjoyment of a cool break from the dry, warm days of a Florida spring, but their keen vigilance sends them to safety high in the trees. After a brief birds' eyeview inspection, they then return for a few moments to hop and flit through the wood chips looking for dinner. It's a way of life birds in a wildlife garden are used to.
Furnishing natural resources in safe and accessible locations will bring more avian enjoyment into your garden and provide hours of viewing Mother Nature at her best. I have noticed that the little garden wrens and blue jays alight on the top of my six-foot privacy fence, adorned at one end with trumpet vine and at the other end, Carolina jasmine. Knowing you should never go home empty-handed; they hop till they espy something serendipitous to take home for food or nesting. Keeping in mind that birds do enjoy fly-through shopping, I decided to encourage their instinctive ways by hanging a nesting basket on my fence, high enough to allow the birds to feel secure to take time to poke through the homemade goodies. A nesting basket is a great way to recycle those singular colorful strings from rainbow sweaters, blue jeans, and jewel-toned towels that accumulate on the floor, the hair from hairbrushes - mine, long and deep red strands and the wheaten Scottie's pulled tufts, grey lint gleaned from the dryer, and those ever-multiplying dust bunnies swept out from under the bed. Use a low-sided basket or other containers that will allow in and out access and will allow water to drain quickly.
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