Dove at the Window

Before we moved here, we knew England was a wetter, greener place than the Midwest. We knew there would be more trees, and we were excited at the prospect of seeing badgers and hedgehogs. But the birds were a bit of a surprise. There are just so many! Most of them are familiar: doves, magpies, sparrows, blackbirds, mallards, crows. But English robins are nothing like the ones at home. They’re smaller and rounder, and they blush all the way up to their faces. Pheasants and Canada geese were brought here centuries ago as game birds, and they seem to be thriving. Today’s block, Dove at the Window, is for the dove that watched me have breakfast from my neighbor's roof. The block is just a little clumsy. If I had it to do over again, I’d have made it with more flying geese and fewer half square triangles.