they all converge at once, it seems. one minute, a relative quiet, broken only by the sounds of traffic and the next minute, the air is full of twittering and chirping. there, a family of cardinals. the song of the carolina wren is punctuated by an irritated chattering from another bird nearby, though i cant make out the source of the grumbling. on the cedar, i spot a pair of woodpeckers that i have not seen before - not the pileated ones, but mid-sized and gray, excepting the red head. a mockingbird swoops down to chase a cardinal away from the big tree stump thats nearly covered with lantana and a blue jay heads across the street to land on a branch, so big it makes that branch bob up and down.

i grab my camera, and since photos are no good through a screen, slip out the porch door and onto the steps. quite without my noticing, the birds are gone. the chirping and twittering has shifted and now appears to be coming from the back of the house. i sit for awhile, and then resigned, head back inside.