Listening carefully outside the kitchen screen door, I hear the plaintive whistle of an Eastern Wood-Pewee (Contopus virens), a simple, but sweet "pee-ah-wee". I can vaguely hear the calls of other birds like robins, swifts, and sparrows. But the simple repeated message of the wood-pewee is a delightful sound to hear on a calm late spring day. Since it hasn't gotten to to solstice, it's still very late spring despite the temperatures we've seen on the East Coast lately.
A brief twittering indicates the presence of a hummingbird and a few seconds later, a jay calls it's scolding jaybird call. The wood-pewee has stopped. Although, I can hear other birds filling the vacancy left by this small brown bird of the trees, they don't do nearly as good a job of keeping my attention. The sharpness of the birds notes and the gentleness of its delivery reminds me of water in a stream. The song of late spring and early summer, easing us into the lazy, easy months of the year. What a joy it is to listen and appreciate these small things and their simple, yet elegant music.
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