Small, different hues of brown
Little black eyes and tiny pink feet
Junco
Eating the seeds on the ground
Inspiring something inside
The next day,
Clear tubes with red perches
Showed off the mix of seeds
Waiting for the first customer
Disappointed when nothing came
The next week,
Losing hope
Still looking, but not as often
Nothing, the one single Junco
Gone
Then that one day
There were two
Hopping off the fence
Onto those little red perches
Draining the tubes of the food
That had been waiting for them
Slowly but surely
More started coming
New birds
New numbers
Sparrows, finches, thrushes, doves
New feeders
New house
Getting the birds back
A new feeder
Filled with nectar
Waiting patiently
Now knowing it could take a while
And then
One day
Watching out the window
Hoping
That one just one might come
Then not one but three!
All in that one day!
Male and female Anna’s
Male Rufous
Zooming and glimmering
Light reflecting off gorgets
Creating the otherworldly hues
Of purple, red, green
In the days that followed
More feeders
More birds
More knowledge
Much more learned
A new hobby
A new love
That will continue
from that day on
Thanks
To that little
Junco
This is the story of my love of birds started, and is still going