It was yet another beautiful dawn during the novel coronavirus lockdown in Orleans, a suburb of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The lazy warmth of the spring sun was filtering through our window. A house wren, nesting in our backyard, a patch of land privately screened off with emerald green arborvitae trees from a popular road, was warbling joyfully again. Although, I first noticed it last spring, I did not pay much attention to the bird and its avian companions. Under COVID-19 lockdown, however, I have rediscovered my old hobby of birdwatching, making me something of an amateur ornithologist.  It made a lot of difference to me that I did not have to leave our home to indulge in a childhood passion that the hustles of everyday city life in normal times had nearly torpedoed. I must confess that I have been enjoying every moment of it, happily becoming an unofficial host. From the bathroom window and the porch of my kitchen, I see them flirting and mating, twittering in their peculiar avian language, flapping their wings and as carefree as only birds can be.

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