Adirondack Advantage

Eastern Phoebe, left, American Robin, right

A good perch = good hunting = successfully raising young.

The birds love our adirondack chairs as much as we do. Here's Mrs. Robin and Mrs. Eastern Phoebe, both of whom nest in our yard using the adirondacks as hunting perches. The robin is feeding fledglings (who fledged during our garden tour, remember). She already has a mouthful of goodies and is pausing, perhaps to see if she can score more to take to waiting mouths. The Eastern Phoebe is on her second brood and has nestlings. She's looking very worn, having built 2 nests and incubated two clutches. Phoebes are flycatchers and so hunt insects from perches by flying out and grabbing the insects.

These are both hardworking birds, doing the serious and essential business of reproduction. We take pleasure in watching them use our chairs, knowing the chairs are more useful to them now than to us, and we don't care if we have to wipe off a little bird poop.