The rose-breasted grosbeaks are back.
I checked back in the current five-year diary (I’m in year two) and in the ten-year volume that came before and found that last year the rose-breasted grosbeaks appeared on May 9, and their first appearance ever was six years ago in May of 2018. (Reading back through my snippets from May of 2021, the end of my last year of teaching, was a bit of a rabbit hole…)
You’ve noticed that there are no rose-breasted grosbeaks in the photo. They seem to be more wild than our usual visitors. They came several times while I stood there waiting with my camera, but just the sight of my outline through the glass door was enough to send them winging right away.
While I stood there, I was thinking of Famous, by Naomi Shihab Nye, and what a privilege it is to be famous to these gorgeous birds for our suet feeder. And to the early hummingbirds who come to the coral bells you can see peeking in the left side of the picture. Also to the black swallowtails who know they can find fennel, the monarchs who know they can find milkweed, and the lightning bugs who can thrive in a chemical-free yard.
This is all the fame I need.
A(nother) Year of Reading 
The gardener is famous to the grosbeaks. I’ve taken to birdwatching and bird listening more this year than ever before. The birds I am noticing give me hope. My mother-in-law has a nest of cardinals near her backdoor that she can check everyday. There are babies now. A friend of mine texts when she sees hummingbirds. It’s all more satisfying than watching the news.
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Or perhaps it’s the news that really matters in the end…
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What great fame! And how great that it’s only the feathered friends who visit your treats. I’d have a big furry friend very quickly!
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Beautiful yard, famous to the Earth, for being a refuge to plants, animals and humans. Thanks for the link to the poem, which I really enjoyed reading, too.
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Your beautiful, chemical free yard and your lovely, thought-provoking words are both inspirational.
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I love the poem, “Famous.” Thank you for reminding me of it and for all the loveliness you share.
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What a gift, to be taken back to that poem, and to see your welcoming garden, famous now to us Slicers, too – it looks like a place of inspiration!
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Oh, those are gorgeous. Every year those first splashes of color startle the eye. On our side of the Rockies, it is house linnets, (house finches) with that rust, apricot, or true red chest. As I put out black sunflower seeds, I know I am famous to them, which is definitely good enough.
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