英语博客：Chirping Chicks.（在线收听）

 Oh, I haven't been getting much sleep recently. It seems as though* the whole world is noisy. It's summer, and every living thing is feeling fully alive, and therefore, making lots of noise. I often have to put our two dogs in the garage in the early hours of the morning because they have a barking fit* at who knows what*. There are racoon families in our neighborhood. At night they scurry* around, looking for food in the garbage cans. They need to feed their babies, so they are busy. And, of course, when the dogs pick up their scent in the air, it's barking time. Also, the birds are busy feeding their chicks. We have a bird house next to  our deck, in our back yard, with three chicks in it. Very early in the morning you'll hear the chirp, chirp, peep, peep. It's adorable, even if it is at five in the morning. My children have asked me if we can feed them, but of course I told them "no", because who knows what they would give them to eat when I'm not looking..... I would probably find remnants of Oreo cookies in the nest, and some very sick birds. A couple of other birds have nested in our garden recently which I call my angels. They are wood pigeons; over here they call them doves. They make a very soothing ooo-ooo-ooo sound. When I was growing up in the English countryside, that's a sound that I heard all the time. It takes me back to my childhood, and makes me feel very comfortable. I decided to take a photo of the nearest nest the other day. It's higher up than my head, so I can't see into it without standing on something. So, I took the chance of just lifting the camera over my head, clicking, and hoping to get a good shot. It worked. I had obviously made enough noise to disturb the chicks, and, not being able to see whether I was their parent or not, they leaned towards the opening of the birdhouse, and opened their mouths. It's amazing to think that in a few short weeks, these totally vulnerable babies will be flying around, catching insects. There will be a lot less chirping, and a lot more flying.