Visitor

I was in my living room. The time was just after midday. I kept hearing a loud, insistent “chirp”. For a while I ignored it.

Chirp ... (Long pause) … Chirp … (Long pause) … Chirp.

I looked through my front window thinking a bird was under the awning. There was no bird.

Chirp.

Finally I had enough of the chirping so I went to the front door and opened it. There stood a bird, inside my front porch alcove – almost standing on the doormat, facing the front door and looking up at me, as though he had been expecting me and was now wondering what took me so long to open the door. I got my camera and took his picture through the glass in the storm door.

When the flash went off he became a bit disconcerted, and he turned and walked away to the edge of the alcove. As he turned to take one last look back at me, I snapped another photo through the glass. The flash didn’t bother him, but when I pushed open the door he decided he had visited with me long enough, and he launched himself into the air and flew away. A bird can’t be too careful, you know.