The next door neighbors have a dead tree in their backyard. When I look out the bedroom window, there is that dead tree right there, so close I could almost touch it.

When we first moved here several months ago, I would see that tree and hope that the day would come when they would remove it. What an eyesore.

But now that we have lived here for awhile, I’m glad for the tree. It is a roosting place for birds. There are often birds perched there and I enjoy watching them when I am in the bedroom and glancing out the window.

We get a variety of birds sitting there. Mostly I see house finches. I had to look in my bird book to identify the phoebe. I’ve seen pine siskins and of course, sparrows.

But my favorite is the hummingbird. The first time I saw it land there, I was thrilled! I had never seen a hummingbird that wasn’t in flight, and they fly so quickly that you can’t really get a good look at them.

The dead tree seems to be a favorite place for this particular hummingbird. He (or she) never stays for too long at a time, but it is fascinating to me that it always lands on the very same little dead branch, facing the same direction. So I figure it must be the same bird coming back over and over.

I’m glad it has a place to rest and perhaps view the area before deciding where to fly to next to search for some sweet nectar.