[Darwin]

Your dscription of your home sounds a lot like my place. We have a resident flock of somewhere around 100 sparrows living in our lilacs, along with a nearly equal number of starlings. I think about half the chicken scratch I put out for the domestic flock winds up feeding the wild ones. During the summer there is usually at least one pair of Red Tail hawks nesting in one of the neighbor's elm trees, occasionally a pair of merlins nest in ours, and at night both greater and lesser horned owls are regular visitors. We also have a couple of pairs of Western Tanagers as summer residents, along with the usual mix of house finches, gold finches, wild canaries, robins, flycatchers, etc. We've had both bald and golden eagles stop overnight during their migrations. Now that I no longer have the daily grind to worry about, I get the opportunity to spend weekday mornings drowning worms at my favorite fishing hole (about ten minutes from the house) while watching beaver, loons, bald eagles, and even an occasional lost pelican. Having the critters around helps make the fishing absolutely excellent, even if the catching usually stinks.