WEBVTT 1 00:00:07.240 --> 00:00:10.839 The bird feeder. Arthur fills his bird feeder every morning 2 00:00:11.039 --> 00:00:14.919 at seven o'clock. He has done this for eleven years, 3 00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:18.600 ever since his wife passed and the house became too quiet. 4 00:00:19.679 --> 00:00:22.559 The feeder hangs from a hook on the porch, a 5 00:00:22.600 --> 00:00:26.760 wooden platform with a roof painted green, though the paint 6 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:29.960 has worn away in patches, and the wood underneath is 7 00:00:30.039 --> 00:00:35.079 silver with age. He fills it with sunflower seats, not 8 00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:37.960 the cheap mix with the filler grain that the birds 9 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:43.679 sort through and discard. The good stuff, black oil sunflower seeds, 10 00:00:44.320 --> 00:00:48.840 the kind that cardinals love and chickadees love most. He 11 00:00:48.920 --> 00:00:52.039 buys them in forty pound bags from the farm supply 12 00:00:52.200 --> 00:00:55.479 store and keeps them in a metal trash can by 13 00:00:55.520 --> 00:00:58.719 the back door. The lid waited with a brick to 14 00:00:58.840 --> 00:01:03.520 keep the squirrels out. At seven o'clock, Arthur steps onto 15 00:01:03.520 --> 00:01:07.840 the porch. The air is cool, the sky is just 16 00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:12.480 turning light. He scoops the seeds into the feeder, one cup, 17 00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:17.480 two cups, three. He checks the water in the stone 18 00:01:17.519 --> 00:01:22.319 basin on the railing. He brushes away the husks from yesterday. 19 00:01:23.120 --> 00:01:25.719 Then he sits in his rocking chair with his coffee 20 00:01:26.040 --> 00:01:31.480 and waits The birds come at seven twelve, not seven eleven, 21 00:01:32.120 --> 00:01:37.760 not seven thirteen, seven twelve. Arthur has been washing enough 22 00:01:37.799 --> 00:01:40.599 to know their schedules as well as he knows his own. 23 00:01:41.319 --> 00:01:45.439 The first to arrive is always the chickadee. Arthur calls 24 00:01:45.519 --> 00:01:49.040 him the scout. He is small and quick, with a 25 00:01:49.079 --> 00:01:52.439 black cap and a white face. He lands on the feeder, 26 00:01:52.920 --> 00:01:56.680 grabs a single seed, and flies away. He does this 27 00:01:56.840 --> 00:02:00.519 three times. Then he returns to the maple tree and 28 00:02:00.599 --> 00:02:05.439 calls to the others the all clear signal the feeder 29 00:02:05.560 --> 00:02:11.039 is safe. The cardinals come next. The male is bright red, 30 00:02:11.560 --> 00:02:15.560 the color of a fire engine, the color of a sunset. 31 00:02:16.319 --> 00:02:21.120 Arthur calls him the Gentleman. He is cautious. He sits 32 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:23.280 on the railing and looks at the feeder for a 33 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:28.479 long time before he lands. He eats slowly, cracking each 34 00:02:28.599 --> 00:02:32.000 seed with care, his black mask giving him the look 35 00:02:32.039 --> 00:02:35.680 of a bandit. At a formal dinner, his mate comes 36 00:02:35.719 --> 00:02:39.800 with him. Arthur calls her the Lady. She is brown, 37 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:43.360 with orange on her wings and beak, beautiful in a 38 00:02:43.439 --> 00:02:48.800 quiet way. She eats while the Gentleman watches. He always 39 00:02:48.840 --> 00:02:53.680 lets her eat first. Arthur respects this about him The 40 00:02:53.719 --> 00:02:58.319 blue jays arrive at seven twenty. They are loud, they 41 00:02:58.319 --> 00:03:02.599 are pushy. Arthur calls them the committee because they argue 42 00:03:02.639 --> 00:03:06.599 about everything. They argue about who gets to eat first. 43 00:03:07.639 --> 00:03:10.319 They argue about which side of the feeder is better. 44 00:03:11.319 --> 00:03:15.120 They argue about the squirrels. They argue about the weather. 45 00:03:16.120 --> 00:03:20.000 They arrive squawking and leave squawking, and the porch sounds 46 00:03:20.039 --> 00:03:22.199 like a board meeting that has gone on too long. 47 00:03:23.400 --> 00:03:27.560 Arthur does not mind. He likes the Committee. They make 48 00:03:27.639 --> 00:03:31.080 him laugh. The new thatch comes at seven point thirty. 49 00:03:32.080 --> 00:03:35.280 Arthur calls him the upside down one, because that is 50 00:03:35.319 --> 00:03:38.919 what he is. He walks head first down the trunk 51 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:42.360 of the maple tree, which is not how most birds walk. 52 00:03:42.919 --> 00:03:46.479 He lands on the feeder and eats with his head tilted, 53 00:03:46.919 --> 00:03:50.120 as if the world looks different from an angle, and 54 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:54.400 he prefers it that way. The woodpecker comes at seven forty. 55 00:03:55.039 --> 00:03:58.479 Arthur calls him the doctor because of the way he 56 00:03:58.639 --> 00:04:03.439 taps on the maple tree, methodical and precise, as if 57 00:04:03.479 --> 00:04:07.360 he is checking for a heartbeat. He is a downy woodpecker, 58 00:04:07.800 --> 00:04:11.400 small and black and white, with a red patch on 59 00:04:11.479 --> 00:04:14.719 the back of his head. He does not eat from 60 00:04:14.759 --> 00:04:18.319 the feeder. He eats from the suet cage that Arthur 61 00:04:18.439 --> 00:04:21.879 hangs from the hook below. He clings to the wire 62 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:27.160 mesh and pecks, his body perfectly still except for his head. 63 00:04:27.759 --> 00:04:32.639 The mourning doves come last. Arthur calls them the quiet ones. 64 00:04:33.319 --> 00:04:37.199 They sit on the railing and coo a low, sad, 65 00:04:37.399 --> 00:04:41.360 beautiful sound that makes the morning feel deeper than it is. 66 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:45.720 They eat the seeds that the other birds have knocked 67 00:04:45.839 --> 00:04:49.600 to the floor. They are not picky, they are grateful. 68 00:04:50.240 --> 00:04:54.199 Arthur watches them all. He has given them names, not 69 00:04:54.399 --> 00:04:58.120 because they are pets, but because they are neighbors. He 70 00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:01.720 has watched their children grow up. He has watched the 71 00:05:01.839 --> 00:05:06.160 gentleman teach his son to crack seeds. He has watched 72 00:05:06.360 --> 00:05:10.040 the lady build a nest in the maple tree, weaving 73 00:05:10.160 --> 00:05:14.000 grass and twigs with her beak. He has watched the 74 00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:17.360 scout lead a new group of chickadees to the feeder 75 00:05:17.519 --> 00:05:21.560 for the first time, showing them the ropes. He knows 76 00:05:21.639 --> 00:05:25.000 their arguments and their alliances. He knows that the committee 77 00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:28.160 will chase the squirrels away from the feeder, but only 78 00:05:28.199 --> 00:05:31.480 if the gentleman is not nearby. Because the gentleman does 79 00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:34.920 not tolerate bullying. He knows that the upside down one 80 00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:38.160 will eat alone, always alone, and that this is not 81 00:05:38.360 --> 00:05:41.600 sadness but preference. He knows that the quiet ones will 82 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:44.839 sit together on the railing, shoulder to shoulder, and that 83 00:05:44.879 --> 00:05:49.000 their cooing is not grief but conversation. Arthur has learned 84 00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:51.879 something from watching the birds. He has learned that a 85 00:05:51.959 --> 00:05:54.879 life can be small and still be full. He has 86 00:05:54.959 --> 00:05:57.879 learned that routine is not the same as emptiness. He 87 00:05:57.959 --> 00:06:00.879 has learned that the world is full of small dramas, 88 00:06:01.120 --> 00:06:04.600 and small joys, and small kindnesses if you sit still 89 00:06:04.600 --> 00:06:07.839 long enough to see them. At eight o'clock, Arthur goes inside. 90 00:06:08.240 --> 00:06:11.319 He washes his coffee cup, He dries it with a towel. 91 00:06:11.639 --> 00:06:13.959 He puts it back on the hook. The birds have 92 00:06:14.040 --> 00:06:17.680 had their breakfast. The feeder is half empty. The porch 93 00:06:17.800 --> 00:06:20.879 is quiet again, except for the faint sound of wings 94 00:06:20.920 --> 00:06:23.800 in the maple tree. Arthur does not need much. He 95 00:06:23.879 --> 00:06:27.319 has his house, he has his porch, He has his birds, 96 00:06:27.639 --> 00:06:31.040 He has his coffee. He has the morning, every morning, 97 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:34.000 the same and not the same, the light changing with 98 00:06:34.040 --> 00:06:37.439 the seasons, the birds coming and going, the feeder being 99 00:06:37.480 --> 00:06:41.560 filled and emptied and filled again. Some people might look 100 00:06:41.560 --> 00:06:45.560 at Arthur's life and see loneliness. They would be wrong. 101 00:06:46.839 --> 00:06:51.439 Arthur is alone, but he is not lonely. He has 102 00:06:51.480 --> 00:06:55.360 the scout and the gentleman, and the lady, and the committee, 103 00:06:55.399 --> 00:06:58.240 and the upside down one, and the doctor and the 104 00:06:58.319 --> 00:07:03.199 quiet ones. He has the sound of wings. He has 105 00:07:03.240 --> 00:07:07.079 the crack of sunflower seeds. He has the coop of 106 00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:11.360 mourning doves. In the early morning light and every evening, 107 00:07:11.720 --> 00:07:14.439 when the birds have gone to roost and the feeder 108 00:07:14.519 --> 00:07:18.560 is empty and the porch is quiet, Arthur sits in 109 00:07:18.600 --> 00:07:22.800 his rocking chair and listens to the silence. It is 110 00:07:22.879 --> 00:07:26.480 not the silence of absence. It is the silence of 111 00:07:26.519 --> 00:07:29.519 a day that has been lived, a day that was 112 00:07:29.600 --> 00:07:35.000 full of small things, a day that mattered. He sleeps well, 113 00:07:35.639 --> 00:07:39.959 he always has. The birds will come again at seven twelve, 114 00:07:40.680 --> 00:07:44.439 The feeder will be full, the morning will be waiting, 115 00:07:45.399 --> 00:07:48.680 and Arthur will be there in his rocking chair with 116 00:07:48.759 --> 00:07:53.519 his coffee, watching the world wake up, one small bird 117 00:07:53.600 --> 00:07:54.240 at a time.