A Cardinal beyond them, singing.

Before my multiple migrations to reach this address, I lived in a home in the woods. There, I deeply enjoyed the birds that visited our feeders, and learned to recognize several bird songs. I'm still terrible at spotting anything in a tree unless it's a hawk or falcon resting on a dead branch.

This time of year brings to mind one of my favorite Bible passages: "See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land."

The thing is, most of the birds closest to this apartment building are starlings and sparrows. Yes, the sparrow finds a place to build her nest in the temple courts, but here they're doing it above my porch, again. When other pairs drop in to squabble over such prime real estate, that's mostly all I hear, all summer long.

But today is mild enough that I can open the patio door; and in the background of the sparrow domestic squabbling, I  hear chickadees, titmice, a drumming woodpecker, and beyond them-- a cardinal, singing. Thanks be to God, who keeps his word and changes the seasons because he loves us.