The Bird and The Owl

The backyard pool is a cool thing. It prompted them to finally put up a fence between them and their next door neighbor. Only after seventeen years, after all. Now it's good. Up until now I thought pools were reserved for the girls from Sweet Valley High, and occasionally their big brother.

Now it is a private oasis in the middle of suburbia. A reason to not have to drive further than to them and something to do on a hot summer day. It did not take long for the wildlife to discover the new attraction to the landscape. Before they opened the pool for the season some geese tried diving for fish and even after she had kept having to pull out drowned Sparrows from the filter.

That's when, with stroke of genius she set up make shift bird bath. Really it's one of those rubber trays for wet winter boots filled with some water. But, it's enough to make the birds happy. Since then the birds very quickly adapted to the new installation. Not one drowned bird. They all take turns and sometimes a few share at a time.

Yesterday there was an owl in the bird bath. It was 33 degrees out and humid and all the little Sparrows sat watching patiently until the owl had taken its bath and flown away. Then they resumed their routine.

There you have it. Nature adapting to us, once again. The grateful little birds and the owl all working around us, and we in some small way trying to thank them for letting us use their space for ourselves. We take so much and leave them with a drop of water and they just line up to use it.