starling squee
We have a Mulberry tree in our backyard. On balance, I've enjoyed it.
For about two weeks of the year, though, it drops a hail of quickly rotting
mulberries onto the ground, which squish and stain everything they touch.
That's OK, it's a shady corner of the yard we don't use for much anyway.
We've tried making jam from them, it was bland tasting. If you try to keep
the berries, it's tough because they ripen and ferment so quickly.
For the next few weeks (right now) the remaining mulberries slowly ripen
on the tree. This is apparently party time for the birds, chiefly the starlings.
You can hear them chirping and cackling and whistling and calling and, I swear,
squeeing out there. The tree appears to be strangely animated at first glance.
I'd estimate there's over a hundred birds in it right now, so dozens of branch tips
are bouncing up and down while the birds hang on sideways and upside down trying
to reach the best fruit I guess.
It's a beautiful thing to listen to and watch, a startling call to nature amid the urban
sights and sounds surrounding it.
Sometimes they appear to be intoxicated. Mulberry wine, perhaps?
For about two weeks of the year, though, it drops a hail of quickly rotting
mulberries onto the ground, which squish and stain everything they touch.
That's OK, it's a shady corner of the yard we don't use for much anyway.
We've tried making jam from them, it was bland tasting. If you try to keep
the berries, it's tough because they ripen and ferment so quickly.
For the next few weeks (right now) the remaining mulberries slowly ripen
on the tree. This is apparently party time for the birds, chiefly the starlings.
You can hear them chirping and cackling and whistling and calling and, I swear,
squeeing out there. The tree appears to be strangely animated at first glance.
I'd estimate there's over a hundred birds in it right now, so dozens of branch tips
are bouncing up and down while the birds hang on sideways and upside down trying
to reach the best fruit I guess.
It's a beautiful thing to listen to and watch, a startling call to nature amid the urban
sights and sounds surrounding it.
Sometimes they appear to be intoxicated. Mulberry wine, perhaps?