There's a dogwood tree outside our kitchen window. It's the neighbor's, but it sits close to the fence and many of the branches hang over our yard. A couple of those lower branches are dead, and those seem to be the favorite ones for the cardinals to sit in.
I see both the female and the male there, sometimes both at the same time. One time today the female was there, and calling. Her upper body would expand and vibrate, and then she would call.
They never stay long. It's as if the dogwood is one stop on a circuit they make around their territory. Fly in, check out what's going on, then fly to the next station. I saw them once take off and fly, one after the other, around to the far side of the neighbor's house. I wonder how large their territory is.
If I could have just one of the flowering trees that brighten the neighborhood in spring, it would be the pink dogwood. Many other trees have bright flowers that hang from the branches, but the dogwood branch tips curl down and support the upward facing flowers from below - open, light, uplifted. Something about the color and transparency of the petals - they seem to glow in the light.
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