Birds in the Buddha Bush

Today we visited the birds in the Buddha bush.

There is a particular bush (a small coniferous tree really) about 30 yards from the path where I walk my dog.

During the cooler months the sparrows like to congregate in the bush. When the birds are in there, all chirping at once, it’s so loud that we can hear them clearly from the path.

“The birds are in the Buddha bush“, I’ll say, and we‘ll take a detour to pay them a visit. The foliage of the bush is so dense that we can’t see any of the birds, even when we’re standing directly in front of the bush. It sounds like there must be 50, or maybe 100 of them in there.

To my untrained human eye, there are many other, very similar bushes nearby. But, the birds always pick this particular bush. Their choice is remarkable to me, because at the base of this one particular bush the owner has arranged a collection of Buddha figurines. It’s the only bush with the Buddhas, and it’s the only bush with birds.

It seems that even the birds know that this is a place of peace.