Parrot Tree

Day 137: First, they sent the scouting party and then, after having ascertained that the food source was reliable and replenished daily, the flock booked the Inn of the Contorted Filbert for an indeterminate stay. Guests who return every year, the Porch Parrots...Evening Grosbeaks...are, to put it simply, the most enjoyable gluttons at my feeders. They favour black-oil sunflower seed, and should I happen to let the supply run down, they'll perch on the shepherd's hooks closest to the window and let me know about it with impatient "CHURP!" demands. I've given up keeping a tally of the hundreds of pounds of seed they consume every year, but it's more than 10 fifty-pound bags between April and August, never mind the shoulder seasons. I've been meeting their nutritional requirements for over forty years, first at my home on a SW Washington prairie and now here. The flock I left behind when I moved from the prairie took up with another neighbour who has continued the tradition. My winter flock usually numbers 10-50 (15 in the tree as I write this), but in the summertime, the census more than doubles and adds in the Black-Headed Grosbeaks as well. My yard is always a chorus of happy bird voices, and what better thanks could there be?