英语播客 A Cup of English A feather nest.

It's time that I bought a new camera. I need a digital that has a decent zoom. I realized that the other day when I was outside, trying to get a good shot of two birds who were nesting. I had been busy throwing the ball to our dogs, when I saw a flash of white out of the corner of my eye. When I turned to see what it was, I saw a bird, obviously the male, sitting on top of the bird house, with a beak full of white feathers. There were so many of them, that they covered half of his body. He had seen me looking at him, and was nervously twitching his head back and forth, waiting for an opportunity to get into the house in order to carry on with his project. The female was off to the right; she was hard to see because her coloring was so pale. I inched my way forward with the camera already in focus and zoomed as far as it could go. However, these smart, nervous little creatures aren't stupid. Their eyes were fixed on me, and they didn't go anywhere near their birdhouse entrance while I was around. They would fly off and observe me from a distant tree. So, I would back off each time and wait for them to return. This went on a few times, until I realised that I was getting nowhere. So, I did a balancing act on the edge of an outside reclining chair, whilst leaning on a wall, holding the camera around the corner towards the birds. I couldn't even see what I was taking a picture of; I just knew that I had more of a chance of getting a good shot if the birds couldn't see me. I risked my own health for the sake of art, people; I hope you appreciate it. Anyway, I got a fairly good picture of the busy parents-to-be, making the nest cosy for their future chicks. It was worth the danger. But next time, I'll just get a better camera.

Grammar notes.

Useful expressions: out of the corner of (someone's) eye, decent, to twitch, male and female.

1. He was hiding, but I saw his red shoes out of the corner of my eye.

2. You really should buy yourself a decent suit for the interview; give a good impression.

3. My eye has been twitching the whole morning; it's really annoying.

4. If you want puppies you need to buy a male for your female, you know.