A morning bird watch

It was 6:24 when I woke up and looked at the alarm clock on our windowsill (turned off, of course, for a leisurely Monday morning in summer). I smiled at the memory of my random, crazy dream and then curled back into delicious sleep. At 7 I awoke again, but this time I only laid there thinking. Finally, after about fifteen minutes, I sat up, did a cat stretch and my allotted crunches (I'm working up to doing 250!) and gathered my Bible, prayer journal and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm into my blue bamboo book bag (incredible alliteration, right?). Then I set off, full pitcher in hand, to my Bird Sanctuary just down the slope behind Hilltop Manor.
It was balmy out, and there were sun-dapples and shady places in abundance in the Sunrise Woods and The Meadow. There was just the slightest stirring of a breeze in the air, and the scent of July 1st clung to everything. When I got to my sanctuary, I tried to quietly refill the bird baths with the bright, beady eyes of a chestnut-backed chickadee watching me (these friendly little birds are still somewhat wary of me, though I am familiar to them and they almost never fly off when I come). Then I scampered up into the Climbing Tree to have my Quiet Hour and enjoy the birds. I saw some yellow warblers and a sharp-shinned hawk. I read a few chapters from Numbers and some of Rebecca, but mostly I simply rested there and let all the peace sink in. I've been watching the cherries ripen on the tree by my sanctuary: this morning they looked jewel red and almost ready for picking. I tried to memorize the unique calls of the warblers and chickadees (I usually recognize them when I hear them, but can never think of them in my head afterwards). I went breathless with excitement when the hawk flew past with a remarkably quiet, though powerful,  wing beat and perched on one of the nearby limbs of the maple tree. The chickadees went ominously silent at his arrival, but my stillness was the product of pure, wondering awe at the elegant creature so close at hand. He was amazing.