We figured she was in the bird house and he was scouring the neighborhood for nesting material. Like any well meaning male might do, he came home with something that just didn’t go with anything else in the house; a feather too large for their doorway. We could hear a one sided conversation (since he was the one with the feather in his beak). She seemed to think he wasn’t serious. Eventually I detected a small, bird-like shrug, and off he flew with his feather. In a few minutes he was back with another, somewhat smaller, and “more fitting” feather. Rewarded by several small voices a few weeks later, our bird house became a “bed and breakfast” with never a vacancy till season’s end.

Original painting available for sale, contact Nancy.