an elegant birdwatcher

There's a rather straggly tamarisk tree outside the bathroom window.  My only experience of bringing pretty pink tamarisk blossoms indoors (years ago, and out beyond Pecos) was fairly catastrophic, because these turned out to be full - full - of tiny and rather over-energetic black bugs.  But that's probably why the tree is always full of house finches, much to young Gramsci's fascination.  There is, of course, a mesh screen between him and this tempting outside world.