The Delights of Brush Piles

Most of my neighbors maintain sanitized back yards. Every scrap of unsightly debris down to the least leaf is promptly stuffed into yard bags and dragged to the curb for removal by Public Works. I ignore this philosophy. And I get the birds! We have allowed a natural space to develop at the back end of the property. It is modest in acreage, but rich in potential for wildlife. One of our tricks is to keep brush piles whence go our bush trimmings, broken branches, and other vegetable ejecta. And these piles are happy places for wild birds. They offer places to hide and food and are quite the magnet for all manner of skulkers. Over time the stuff breaks down and we have compost for our gardens, so it is a nice exchange. I wonder if in avian terms we are the toniest place in the subdivision. I will let my back yard life list tell that story.