These days, our balcony is not ours alone. We share it with seven different species of birds. Ranging from the smallest to the biggest, they are: Carolina Wrens, Carolina Chickadees, House Finches, Tufted Titmouse, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Cardinals, and Northern Mockingbird. {The photos here are not my own. While I have taken plenty, they lack professional quality, and I really, really want you to see the beauty of my flatmates.}
Carolina Chickadees
Photo courtesy: Brian Yurasits @brian_yuri via Unsplash
Carolina Wrens. Photo Courtesy: Kellie Shepherd Moeller @kmoeller via Unsplash
Although they haven’t let me get too close, the Wrens, no taller than my thumbs, are probably the most curious. Their heads rotate, nonstop, this way and that, and their up-in-the-air tails are as long as the rest of their body. I will forever be indebted to the pair of them that decided to make a nest and raise a family in one of our planters back in the early days of the lockdown. I used to sit outside for hours, working, watching, looking up their habits and preferred foods on the internet. Without these delightful birds, I wouldn’t have developed the appreciation I have towards my current flatmates.
I am amazed by the vocal strength of the Chickadees. There are three of them that are regular visitors. They are tiny with disproportionately big heads. If you didn’t see them and only heard them, you’d be forgiven for thinking they own not just my balcony but everything their gaze rests on. They are also the least willing to share food, unless, you are a bird of another species, preferably bigger in size.
Tufted Titmouse. Photo Courtesy David Lantrip
@lantrip via Unsplash
The Titmouse are fairly new to our balcony. They fly in with the chickadees, and never by themselves. To me, they look kind of flabbergasted, as if they can’t figure out why humans have named them what they have. “Why?,” I feel that’s their one constant question, and sadly, I have no answer. I find them exceedingly polite, not just to each other, but to others as well. I haven’t seem them squabble so it seems particularly unfair to me that they got stuck with such a terrible, confusing name.
The Mockingbird, easily our biggest visitor, deigns to land only on the balcony railing. It neither fights over the feeder nor engages with any of the other birds. It only eats, carefully and delicately, one blueberry at a time, on days when I set out a few. It’s magnificent, quiet, and a loner.
Northern Mockingbird. Photo Courtesy: Joshua J. Cotten @jcotten via Unsplash
Downy Woodpecker. Photo Courtesy: Bruce Jastrow @brucej6767 via Unsplash
The Downy Woodpecker has visited us only once so far. But I will always remember the moment I think. Me, looking up from my journal and mug of coffee at the feeder, and seeing this tiny, glossy creature, all fluff, perfection, and glow. What a gift!
My personal favorite are the Northern Cardinals. The pair of them—Red and Lali—are our most frequent visitors. I have loved the color red since I was a kid, and nothing has changed. It’s still my favorite. So, the fact that an actual red bird stops by my balcony every day and that too multiple times, feels unbelievable. There is often tension between Red and Lali though. They will eat side by side but not acknowledge the other one. Or, they will sit with their backs to each other. It’s only on rare occasions, that they will fly in and out together, or share the same sunflower. It’s a complicated relationship, and I stay out of it.
Northern Cardinal. Photo Courtesy: Aaron Doucett @adoucett Via Unsplash