Song Birds by Susan L.

  The numbers of these little birds is decreasing at an alarming rate. Shrinking habitat and the imported Starling are taking a toll on their ability to find suitable nesting sites. It pleased me to see a pair of rather non-descript brown birds with voices that would suit an opera checking out my birdhouse. I watched the pair twitter a discussion of it's qualities, or perhaps it's shortcomings, like a pair of newlyweds discussing their first home. I've only the one that hangs from the sawn off hydro pole holding one end of my clothesline up. It was made with a hole too small for Starlings. It hosted a pair of Chick-a-dees last year.
  Years ago I came across a Song Sparrow nest. It was hidden on the ground in a patch of long grass. I smiled because it had been carefully lined with long horse hair. Each tail strand had been meticulously placed around the inside walls. I was able to identify which of my horses had contributed to this tiny cup that helped bring new life into this world.
  There was quite the relationship between the farm animals and the birds. Chicken and duck feathers were fought over as premium nesting material. I could tell when the wild birds were done nesting because the lawn would stay littered with feathers from the domestic, free range birds.
  Barn swallows always had plenty to eat because the cows, sheep and goats created an aroma extremely attractive to flies. On a good year, they'd raise three sets of four chicks in their mud nests attached to the ceiling beams of the lower barn.
  With the change of agriculture into the massive operations of factory farms, the bird friendly environment of small farms is becoming a curiosity to be read about in the history books. The wooden bank barns are slowly rotting away, empty of the life they need to keep them standing. Sadly, it's simply because a small farm is not financially viable in today's market.
  I think I need to make a few more bird houses...
  "Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch." Gen 6:14