I’ve been a passive bird watcher since just before the pandemic. I started with a feeder on the font porch and have since added a few more around the house. Primarly around my backporch after I screened it in and added a fan. I spend as much time as I can out there, and the birds have become a constant source of joy. I picked up these hanging feeders/bird baths off Amazon for $10 a piece and they’re great^[1]. The hanger is repurposed galvanized pipe that used to be under the house.

So there’s a mated pair of cardinals that come around every evening like clock work around dusk. Blame the copious amounts of The National I’ve been listening to lately, but I’ve taken to calling them the Twilight Cardinals. This year they’ve brought their offspring around. I’ve seen the juvenile since it was closer to a fledling. Barely able to balance on the pipe squawking with its beak wide open. Now it’s able to stable itself and balance on the edge of the feeder.

Maybe because it was the first to appear this spring—the Tufted Titmouse juvies are starting to mix in and today an akward Red-bellied Woodpecker juvenile showed up—but this cardinal has made me reflect on the world in a way I haven’t in a while. Aging in the face of the young yet feeling as akward. Just trying to keep my balance and not fall off the perch.

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1. I’d always had traditional silo feeders until I mounted an old pie pan to a post to compromise with the squirels. I put some whole peanuts and sunflower seeds in it and the birds loved it. Come raining season I’ll probably search out one that is screen bottomed. ↩︎