About one hundred yards up a steep bank from one of the farm roads my pickup frequently travels sits a native white dogwood tree. It wasn't planted or pampered by humans. It just got lucky and put down roots in a spot favored by dogwoods.

The tree is on the west edge of a small patch of trees, an under-story tree that had crept out to grab a good supply of the sun's afternoon rays. Maybe it's nothing special or maybe its just like an old friend who has been very reliable and around for a long time.

As fall approached last year one could not miss its copious crop of red berries. I admired them for weeks. Driving past one late fall afternoon I saw that it was hosting a swarm of birds. I paused, but the light angle was rather poor and I couldn't make a positive feathered ID.

It was about a half hour until my curiosity got the best of me and I got my binoculars and returned. I scanned the tree, but did not spot a single bird. What I did see to my amazement was that they had missed but a single berry. In awe of the job they had done I was disappointed that I hadn't hurried back to identify this efficient crew.

Returning toward the house with the binoculars, I spied the birds again. This time they were cleaning the less spectacular crop of berries from the dogwoods in front of my house. They were robins. It was at least two weeks after I thought the last robin had headed south, a fact that led me to dismiss robins on my first sighting.

Happy to realize that my trees had fueled a late traveling band of robins for another leg of their migration I began to think about how man and birds share this land and how we can interact to help both species.

Quite honestly, my guess is that we get a lot more enjoyment from seeing them than they get from seeing us. Many of us put out feeders in the winter. A few feed all year. The birds really don't need this help but it is appreciated, especially on cold, snowy days when the bird's energy needs are up and the natural food supply is hidden. Our feeders are easy when the birds have urgent needs.

Taking it a step further, can you imagine a landscape without birds? That leads one to ponder the question as to whether we can make minor adjustments to our landscapes to favor and attract more birds.

To be successful, birds need food, shelter, water and a place to rear their young. On some of those points man isn't prone to help the birds. We want our lawns short and well trimmed. If we are in the woods we prize our large trees but frequently destroy the under-story. As a people we're too neat for most of the other critters on this earth.

For today, I'll put this to rest with the simple statement that birds and other critters like a bit of untidiness, maybe even minor landscape clutter. You have a choice. Is it your yard or will you share it?