The Joy of Rupert’s Visits

In no time, his routine was a source of daily entertainment. Without realizing it, he had become a sensation to observe. The visits were frequent, and his love for the spot close to the window was so clear that the next step was to reward him with a new personal feeding place.

It did not take much to create a satisfactory stop station. A small clean plastic yogurt container attached to the post, filled with yummy seeds, was the first attempt to meet his preferences. Soon, one realized that the experience promised to be better than expected.

Almost regularly, Rupert came early in the morning, around noon, and again at mid-afternoon. Every time, he first stood at attention on the hook, looking around, making sure that there were no threats nearby. When feeling safe, he began picking seeds one by one, only interrupted by another random look around the vicinity. At the end of the visit, he stretched his neck, pumped up his chest and gifted the audience with a melodic long string of tunes.

This became so much of a regular pastime that those around waited for his visits, making sure that his feeding cup had his favourite small seeds. It went on for weeks. At times, the singings seemed to be louder and longer. At other times, he would fly from one spot to another in the back garden, stopping and singing his heart out. What no one knew was that he had down-to-earth motives for these performances.

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In no time, summer made its presence felt. The flowers rose to their full colours, hosting the bumblebees, while other birds began to visit the main feeder in the back corner of the garden.

Before long, the yellow finches turned up, bouncing, flying and crisscrossing the garden, and the male and female cardinals carefully selected the seeds of their liking, distracting the neighbourhood with out-of-tune singing. The odd blue jay noisily competed for the available food with the black birds, and the robins hopped about, picking up delicious worms. Despite the almost crowded grounds, Rupert maintained his personal routine and made full use of his private feeding place.

When the heat of late spring and early summer reached its peak, a clay fountain full of clear water and a few pebbles for birds to stand on became a necessity. The best location was on the stone patio protected by some potted plants, just visible from a window. In an instant, some of the visitors cautiously dropped by to have a drink or two. At the beginning, Rupert was nowhere to be seen.

One day, however, when the sun was making its presence felt, Rupert appeared, standing on the rim of the fountain. In his usual manner, he was cautiously looked all around, stretching his neck and making sure that no one else was near. It took a while for him to jump into the middle of the water tray. After looking around a few times, he lowered his head, opened his tiny wings, fluffed his chest and began to shake his entire body, submerging his head in the water. He did this several times, splashing water all around. Then he jumped back onto the edge, shook his body, opened his wings to dry and sang a long, reverberating tune. It was truly a funny spectacle that took place on and off throughout the early summer.