The other morning while having tea with a friend I heard a thud thud thud.

Oh no I protested! This friend is somewhat of a birder. Would you be so kind as to look with me and tell me if you are familiar with this adorable sort of bird?

“Oh that is a Cassin’s Kingbird.”

I then related to the friend what has been happening. Although no need — she could very well see for herself! These birds start at 5:00 a.m. banging into my bedroom and living room windows. My dogs used to go nuts and wake me up. Now, I imagine Byron and Amie are so accustomed to the noise that they ignore the sound. I can actually hear them right now as I write. When I hear them, I run to open windows and have a chat with the birds:

Please don’t bang into the windows sweet birds, your house is that way! And I point out the correct direction.

Interestingly enough they are not afraid of me. But what happens when I am not there to redirect them?

Luckily, no birds have met their demise yet. Today I am going to go to the local bird store in my town to buy decals for the windows. I hope the decals will help!

Another interesting fact is that Carrot-wood trees’  berries are delectable to many varieties of birds. The unfortunate news is that the trees are right outside my house and the birds get disoriented and fly into the windows thinking my house is the tree. Carrot-wood trees were thought to be great trees for next to a swimming pool years ago. Wrong! We now know that they drip when they become mature trees, so they are not a good choice to place near swimming pools. When this started happening I thought it was the young birds learning to fly and taking a wrong direction right into my house.

Any suggestions of what you all have done to protect birds from flying into the windows would be appreciated.

On a lighter note I have Western Bluebirds in my garden that come to nest every year. The Bluebirds like to nest facing north. There are special blue bird boxes one can buy or make to encourage them to nest. Unfortunately their predators are abundant. I have been very sad many years when the babies were eaten by scrub jays and crows.

To see more Western Bluebirds, please visit Patrick Clark’s website for beautiful photographs of this lovely creature.

But somehow, some Bluebirds survive and they come back in subsequent springs to our gardens and fields to nest and feed.

The Blue Bird of Happiness aptly named, often brings smiles and squeals of delight to onlookers.

As I finish writing this blog on a beautiful May day, the Cassin’s Kingbird has stopped banging himself against the windows. The Western Bluebirds are hunting for earth worms and seed in the field and I hear the many varieties of songbirds in the garden singing their delightful songs spreading music through the air. The Dalai Lama had good things to say about nature. Check out my blog post May 2, 2012 to see the transcript of his speech.

I often think how lucky we are to live in a world where birds sing.

Bye for now,

Rippin’ Lips

Francesca