Birdy

Geek Alert: herein I talk a lot about birds and how much I love them *pushes up imaginary glasses with middle finger*.

This article in today's NYT Home and Garden section pretty much sums up my feelings about birds exactly. When someone talks about glimpsing the sacred after seeing bluebirds repopulate on their property I yell out "AMEN!" While I haven't seen a bluebird in our yard (and good thing because I would probably faint dead away if I did) I have seen the other birds featured in the article.  A gigantic pileated woodpecker started thumping on a tree right outside my bedroom window the week we moved in. It looked exactly like a pterodactlyl. And although it is another indication that this particular tree is full of carpenter ants I was delighted. We also had a Carolina Wren that did this weird skip by the door to our deck at around the same time every day. It hopped down the deck and then sat there eyeing our grill and then skipped off again. For a while there  I felt  like I was in some groundhog-day effect loop because it went on every day for about a week. Same bird (I think). Same time (naptime). Same skip.

I am no birder - no notebook of spotted birds or expeditions. I regularly misprounounce ornithology.  I rarely hike. But I do have my binoculars always at the ready on the windowsill. Nothing makes me happier than seeing something interesting flitting outside and catching it in my sights. I am always thrilled, each and every time. I still can't believe the quantity and variety that I have seen just out our kitchen window since we moved here in May. This article also made me happier about the lot behind ours that is completely overgrown in a jungle of weeds. poison ivy and brush. Although it's a bit of an eyesore I know now that it's what is driving all the cool kids to come visit our yard. If you have any proclivity at all to bird-watching definitely take a second to read the article. It's lovely. And it links to the Cornell bird site which is INCREDIBLE. I would link to it myself but I cannot have such easy access to what is for me the mother of all time-sucks. *pushes up glasses again*

Comments

[Jane]

My great grandfather talked about the giant flocks of bluebirds – hundreds and hundreds apparently – he used to see when he was a young man. And oh my god yes those woodpeckers are big and ... menacing (?) I guess is the word.

[wordgirl]

We watch a lovely male and female Cardinal couple from our kitchen window every day. One or the other will fly to a feeder first and then call for the other. It's just totally charming!

[Nicolle]

hehe, although i'm not a birder, the husband has a similar love as yours. he loves to summon me to the window freaking out about a bird that shouldn't be in this area, what it's called, mating rituals, etc. and then asks me what it's called in english. i'm always like, um, i dunno. now i can just point him in the direction of cornell and kiss my computer goodbye.

[YoPapa]

I am finally getting to catch up on LetterB and had to tell you how impressed and amused we were by the seemingly obvious (to him) "Rocking" response. Something only an antecedent could appreciate fully but a great sign that you're raising him right down there in Whoville...

[anna]

I am inspired and will haul out a pair of binoculars and have them at the ready for our next visitors. Birds in the yard really are an everyday miracle.

[Jill]

Fellow Nerd! I'm actually WAY nerdier because I totally have a book and a checklist! We have even sought out birds on vacation--we had to go to Texas for a conference and we stayed at a birding B&B and even got to see the very rare and endangered whooping crane! Enjoy your backyard birds--they are a great way to enjoy nature without getting sweaty. My personal favorite is the cedar waxwing. They eat the choke cherries from our tree in the winter and I feel like I won the bird lottery.

[LetterB]

Flocks of bluebirds, mating Cardinals, cedar waxwings, oh my!