AS THE CROW FLIES
Elinor Miller's Birding Columns
OLD MEN’S SOCIETY
Thanks to email, I’ve received a lot of instant responses to this year’s yard bird count, along with interesting stories. I’ll share a few of these now, with more to come in my next column.
First off, I heard from Carol Scott in S. Chatham who’s email heading was “Yum yum!”. She send pictures of her birds — Carolina wren, yellow-rumped warbler, starling, downy woodpecker — chowing down on the Miracle Meal whose recipe I’ve published often, the one that bluebirds will eat when snow covers up other food.
Then Liz Hogan of Brewster reported 4 males and 3 female bluebirds,. a Cooper’s hawk, a regular in her yard and one she has a picture of chowing down on a goldfinch, one red-breasted nuthatch, a pine warbler, and a regular pair of red-bellied woodpeckers, along with “the usual suspects” most of us feed daily.
Stan Brady, also of Brewster, sent along great pictures of a fox in his yard and a group of bluebirds at his birdbath. Stan attributes more activity and variety of birds this year than in past years, probably because of the fact that this year is the first he has maintained a heated bath near the feeders.
Here’s a memorable story from Stan on what started him as a birder. “I owe it to my father who, when I was an only child in rural Connecticut, instilled in me an appreciation for nature and, especially, birds. He gave my wife and me our first Peterson Guide thirty years ago.” Stan also reported another anecdote, which he said he hesitated to relate, as it begins by describing some very misguided behavior on his part, but he went on to show how a negative event can have very lasting positive outcomes.
“As a young boy I had a BB gun, as did most of my contemporaries there in the ‘country’. Other than tin cans and other inanimate targets, I sometimes aimed the gun at mice, frogs, and (yup) birds! Well, one day, in the middle of the winter, I was out in the woods near our home with my BB gun. I heard some bird activity nearby so I stopped to listen. While standing stock-still with my gun ‘at the ready’ a Chickadee flew from a nearby branch and landed on the barrel of the gun, no more than two feet from my face. He gave me his cheerful ‘Dee-dee’ and sat there for enough time for me to get a message that I have remembered since!”
Thanks to all who reported so swiftly. Until I have more to report, here’s a conversation I overheard while chipping ice off our steps.
Can you remember scenes of a group of old men either gathered around a wood stove in a country store or sitting on a bench out front? Well, that’s the way I regard our cardinals — the males, anyway. That old pear tree’s branches are ornamented on sunny days by an assemblage of these brightly clad and crowned chiefs, and this what they’re saying:.
“So, Henry. How’s it going?”
“Well, Tim, not too bad. I must say, though, these old bones don’t recall a winter as cold as this one.”
“You’re right on that account!” chimed in Jerry. “Way I see it we’d be in a heap of trouble if we didn’t have this fast food eatery at hand. Imagine trying to rustle up a decent berry, never mind some old seeds, with this ice and snow cover.”
“I don’t have any complaints about them handouts, but I do object to that crowd of chattering uncouth little birds with their little beaks and their queer habits of turning upside down to eat. I mean — really!”
“Tell me again, Gramps, why our ancestors left the nice warm South to come up to this here freezing North.”
“Well, Sonny, here’s the way I remember my mother’s mother telling it, and she learned it from her mother’s mother. She said it was a longtime journey, done over many years’ time. Some of our folks started leaving their homes in the South as it was getting mighty crowded and some of them other birds that come and go every year on their big vibrations...”
“Not vibrations,” interjected Billy. “MIgrations!.”
“Oh, yeah, Migrations. Thanks, Billy. Anyway, these little bitty birds that’d come though our territory every April and October kept talking about all the great food further north until finally some of our kin just up and moved a few days’ flight up the way. Then, some of them would wait a while and then they’d do the same thing. So, that’s how I reckon we got to be in there here parts.”
“Thanks, Gramps. That’s always a good story!.”
“Well, I sure wish they’d all just stayed in much warmer country,” declared Andy. I’ve heard tell that they come up this way in the days before all these hanging handouts of big black seeds and cages of that good white stuff were around. They sure must have been tough characters!”
“Yep! Musta been!” the others agreed.
“Say, “comments Tim, “there goes that delightful Sandy! She sure is something!”
“She is that,” agrees Henry. “Well, guys, what say we grab some grub before those twittering finches return?”
“Good idea, Henry!”
While these fellows were sitting in the sun, it was hard not to wonder what was happening to our other wildlife during the long freeze of January. The pair of sandhill cranes continued to find sustenance in Cummaquid, as did a Western tanager, a bird whose name reveals that it ought to have been in our Western states, not in Brewster. Still, one has to wonder how many birds the weather has winnowed from each flock. There are numerous reports of gulls predating on bufflehead ducks, presumably because the gulls were unable to forage in a more usual manner. Carolina wrens are at risk in this prolonged cold, as they, like the cardinals, were once southern residents.
Please send your comments and anecdotes about birds to me in care of the Cape Cod Times, 319 Main Street, Hyannis, MA 02601 or, if you use email, to emiller@seepub.com. I regret that because of an overwhelming amount of mail, I cannot respond to each of you personally. However, I have added a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section to the web page with my current and past bird columns, now found at http://home.comcast.net/~elliemiller/index.html. If you can’t find the answer to your question there, try Bird Watcher’s Digest at 1-800-879-2478 or check out their FAQ at www.birdwatchersdigest.com.
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