These birds are delightful. They come to our house every year in mid summer, never in spring. They flit around, chattering continually. There can’t be that much going on in their world.

Cassin’s Kingbirds are a little smaller than Robins, and gray all over except for soft yellow on the belly. They sit intermittently on the electrical wire going to our house and chatter, sally forth to the TV antenna on the roof chattering and snapping up passing insects all the while, then back to the wire, jabbering the entire day.

My friend Carole’s two little granddaughters play outside all morning at her ranch with a big lawn and huge cottonwood trees. The girls are busy riding scooters back and forth, baking and cooking in pretend kitchens, painting pictures. Chattering Kingbirds!

I spotted two of these birds on my chokecherry bush outside the dining room window this afternoon. Perched on branches already loaded with purple-red cherries they sampled a few, one at a time. They chattered back and forth to each other before flying away.

The chokecherries, I guess, aren’t quite ready yet. Still too bitter. They’ll be back.

I will, too.

Janice