Bird Watching
One of the most pleasant things about this farm is the multitude of birds singing all the time. From the earliest risers announcing the break of dawn to the owls hooting in the night, I have always been mesmerized by their chorus echoing up the holler and in the woods surrounding the house. I hung several feeders out front last fall and have enjoyed watching the various birds as they migrate up and down on their annual patterns. There were a few varieties that wintered over…the cardinal being my favorite. Black-capped chickadees and house wrens and goldfinches were frequent visitors with the occasional bird I have yet to identify.
I mowed the lawn yesterday with my new mower. (Jackie…tell Don it’s a Troy-Bilt, not a Toro. Hey, it started with a T!) It worked like a charm and the yard looked lovely when I was done. I worked on the taxes for quite some time and finally took a break in the late afternoon to sit in the sunshine on the porch. The birds were having a field day out there so I went in to get my iPad and binoculars. My massage therapist asked me the other day to identify a bird from a call she recorded the evening before. I downloaded “iBird Ultimate” on my tablet and set to work. After two days, I discovered she had caught an American Woodcock with it’s repeated three-note croak common during mating season in the spring. I don’t know if you have ever seen one, but they are very odd birds. They hold their heads far back, have a very long beak, and walk in slow motion. Funny birds. Since I had the app at the ready, I decided to try to identify some of my afternoon visitors.
I’ve been trying to identify a certain call for quite a long time now. It sounds “watery”, like a drop of water plunking down in a well. Kind of hollow, echoing. I could hear them in the brush but could never get a good look at them. Finally, they came to the feeder…only briefly. Just long enough to see they were Brown-headed Cowbirds. I looked them up, listened to their song that is recorded in the app, and sure enough…that’s what I’ve been hearing for years! It was actually pretty exciting!
The most fun interaction I had though was with a Tufted Titmouse. Beautiful little birds. A blue-ish grey with a blush of dusty pinkish yellow on the sides of the breast, just under the wings, they have a peaked cap of feathers on top of their heads that looks like a jaunty little hat. Once I identified it, I played the birdsong on an endless loop and that little bird went crazy. Ok, I played a recording of the mating calls between a male and female. This guy fluttered all around the porch, staring at me, shaking his wings hard enough to make the dogwood tree quiver. He even flew in under the porch roof and landed on the clothesline not ten feet from me. He stayed around for awhile till he figured out I wasn’t an interloper invading his territory. Finally, he flew off into the woods nearby, but I heard him scolding and chattering at me for quite some time afterwards.
The temperature got up to 80 out there with the sun preparing to settle behind the ridge across the road. It felt wonderful to just sit there and soak up some Vitamin D. The wind picked up with the approaching storm front and the trees on top of the hill danced and roared a muffled sigh. Another lovely day has passed here on the farm and my heart is full of love and hope. ❤️
“Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.” James 5:13 ESV