Bird’s Nest Soup
by Beth Szillagyi
Illustrations by Steven Fisher

EXCERPT

Birdy, birdy
Bright and pretty,
How do you
Build your nest?

With dryer lint
And cotton string,
But dog hair is
By far the best!

Amber loved to watch the birds in her back yard. She had gotten into the habit with her dad, Bill, and her step mom, Ellen. They had put out four different kinds of bird feeders and a birdbath for their feathery friends. They planted holly, viburnum, and barberry bushes because those bushes had berries on them to attract the birds.
Indeed, the girl had learned a lot about birds from her vigils at the picnic table out back. She observed that sparrows and starlings were the least picky about what they ate, reminding her of her brother Danny who had two hollow legs.

Cardinals, on the other hand, were more picky, wanting only the sun flower seeds. The cardinals were beautiful red birds and would often be the last ones at the feeders in the evening, but Amber could never get very close to them even though she tried.

House finches were small, sparrow-like birds, and the males had red heads and brown bodies. These and the gold finches frequented the Thistle Seed Restaurant which swayed from the magnolia tree, although the house finches hung around the sun flower feeder, too.

Amber especially loved the mourning doves, the sad songs they sang, and their delicately shaped, gray heads. They were fun to watch when they tried to get into one of the feeders, because usually they were too plump and ended up sitting on top of the feeders looking down in frustration at the seeds just beyond their reach. Fortunately for them, though, most of the other birds had sloppy table manners, sending plenty of bird seed sailing to the ground where it was easier for the doves to go.

The family hung a hummingbird feeder, but Amber had only seen one of these tiny jewels for a few seconds at the end of the previous summer. It had been darting in and out of the petunias, but by the time Amber had called her step mom, the little guy was gone.

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