A pair of catbirds has been hanging around since spring. They are known as the clowns of the garden, cos they always have to mess around with things; like breaking off several very young peppers plants earlier, and sometimes digging up things planted in pots. They are very curious and also very brave about being around us. They will fly right past me when I’m in the garden doing things, and then perch within a few feet of me and start to talk. We’ve had some conversations, when I tell them “here’s trouble” and ask if they’re the one who broke off the pepper plants. They talk back and seem to realize there is communication going on between us.

They sit in the trees and sing various songs in the evening: the songs of other birds, similar to a mockingbird, but their songs aren’t as varied as mockingbirds. They are so brave they come to the bird bath and get a drink or take a bath when I’m 10′ away.

Now, they have a nest with 2 babies, in the fairly thick rose bushes right off the back porch. They don’t care that we live together here, and that’s so nice. Nature is always amazing.

UPDATE………

A few days after I wrote about these birds, we had a hurricane that caused a lot of damage to areas east of us and all up and down the east coast. As it was coming, I was worried about the little bird family.

Last year in almost the same spot as this nest, there was a cardinal’s nest with 3 eggs. One day we had an awful rain bomb storm, and it rained hard, dropping 3” of rain in about 4 hours. That was too much even for good bird parents, and the cardinals abandoned the nest and it was dismantled by the rain.

But this hurricane spared us in this area, and only dropped 3/4” of gentle rain with no wind or other issues. Right after the rain stopped, I went out and walked near the nest, being careful not to get too close and spook any bird that might have been there. There on the nest sat one of the parents, sitting tight and protecting the little family, which was safe.

❤️