I've complained on this blog before about the lack of any interesting birds around my house. We seemed to always have the typical (Boring!) urban birds: house sparrows, starlings, and pigeons, with the occasional robin and mourning dove thrown in. I have also complained about my stupid neighbor calling the city on me about having bird feeders. It turns out that that neighbor did me a gigantic favor.

This has been our first spring at this house minus bird feeders, and the diversity of the birds I've seen so far has been amazing. So far this spring, we've had:

• Robins (including adolescent ones hopping around the yard with their parents)


• Veeries


• Chickadees


• Mourning Doves


• Chimney Swifts


• Cardinals


• Goldfinches

And, oddly enough, hardly any visits from starlings or pigeons. I can only conclude that the free food was attracting the bully birds and keeping all of these sweet-tempered birds away. It's really been amazing. It also helps that my garden has grown in a lot more. The shrubs, perennials, and vines offer plenty of cover for foraging birds, and the loose, rich soil in the veggie gardens is irresistable to the robins. There is obviously plenty for my feathered friends to eat in my yard, and I have one birdbath in the front yard and another in the back to keep the little sweeties clean and hydrated. Mourning doves lounge under the viburnum, chimney swifts cling to the black locust outside of the kitchen window, and the robins and cardinals sing in the sunrise and sunset from the big white pines behind our property.

So, let this be a lesson: every once in a while, annoyances turn into joys. I almost feel like thanking my stupid neighbor.

Almost.

Stumble It!