The Backyard Bird Chronicles

For a year, Tan heard a clicking sound like someone typing on a typewriter. She invites Fiona over on Christmas Day to observe birds in the backyard. Fiona shows Tan that the typing noise she hears is coming from a ruby-crowned kinglet and helps Tan find it in a nearby oak tree. Tan is excited to have another new species in her backyard and hopes more will come. Watching them helps her to set aside a sense of dread she feels about the trajectory of the world.

Other noises cause worry. When the chickadees let off alarm calls, Tan spots a red-shouldered hawk watching her feeders. She knows that her songbirds are safe for now, as the hawk focuses its attention mainly on rats.

Tan heightens her observation skills. She watches California towhees move through the yard as though they are landlords, their large bellies leading their slow wandering. Anna’s hummingbirds drain the feeders right before bed, which Tan realizes is because torpor requires as much energy as possible. Birds avoid yellowjackets feasting on mealworms, and dominance behaviors emerge even at the bird bath. After discovering that the reason finches discard so many seeds is that they are searching for only dense, oil-rich food.