On those rare moments when the traffic noises of busy Tilghman Street die down, my urban back yard is alive with the songs and chatter of birds.  Chickadees, sparrows, cardinals, catbirds, yellow finches, robins and mourning doves all find solace in the hedgerow between our houses and at the feeding station I share with my next door neighbor.  Birds are also welcome to eat any and all of the pest bugs in my vegetable garden as I don’t use any chemicals for either pest control or accelerated growth, preferring to remain organic.  The only thing I ask in return is don’t poop on my head.

My modest back yard is a delicate ecosystem where everything that happens there affects something else.  Our resident cardinals nest in the arborvitae and raise their young each spring.  Chipmunks skitter up the garage walls and eat the sunflower seeds that drop on the ground from the bird feeder.  Squirrels (aka Tree Rats) dig up flower bulbs and carry off the first tomatoes of the season.  Skunks come in at night, rooting about in the dirt for grubs.  A red-tailed hawk once took down a rabbit there and left nothing behind but two fuzzy ears.