I’m not a big keeper of lists. I don’t have a bird life list, U.S. list or state list. I do, however, keep a yard list and work list.

My yard list was very robust at my former house in the woods. Now that I live close to downtown in a small suburban town, my yard list is not very impressive. My work list is growing, however. We recently got new offices and I now look out into a patch of woods instead of a parking lot. My daily sprinkling of seeds and nuts in the crevices of the downed trees at the wood’s edge enhances the view and draws in extra birds.

The other day, a hermit thrush hopped along the ground near where I place the seeds. It wasn’t eating the seeds, of course, but it was slowly walking among the leaves and looking curious as hermit thrushes often do.