His ‘coming out’ event was surreal. Once secluded in a darkness, he now was among a crowd and had entered the light. He felt weak, at first, but grew stronger and sat taller as the days passed. He belonged and that felt wonderful. Now, thinking nothing could get more bizarre than the day he came out, he was about to fly solo again! Scary didn’t cover this occasion. He knew he no longer had a choice and he took a leap of faith! What had happened before made no difference to him, this was about freedom and purpose. He sailed away from his peers claiming his own destiny.
Many smiles for me last week, especially yesterday. It was my birthday. My grown up married former day care friend, now friend, texted me from Australia. He’s studying to be a Veterinarian and has been there for two of four years. He never forgets. Another adult (age 21) former day care friend also contacted me with an old photo of us from long ago. It was of us celebrating a birthday.
I had lunch with my kids and granddaughters. Which always makes a Mom/Grandma happy! Finally, my son is a chef at a local bistro and surprised me with a fancy dessert that he brought home after hours. It’s called Coconut Cake with Mango Curd and Pineapple. YUMMY! It would have been even prettier if it wasn’t in a take-out container.
Oh… many local birds kept me company while I sipped coffee on a lovely birthday morning outside. Doves, robins, sparrows, blue jays, crows, and a persistent cardinal who serenaded me for twenty minutes. MY heart is full!
The Brown-headed Cowbird is the Northeastern United States version of bad parenting. All they do is eat and lay their eggs in the nests of other birds. They are very effective though. Usually, the other birds are smaller. When their babies hatch, they are raised by the unsuspecting little “foster parents“.
Eastern Phoebe Nest with a Cowbird egg.
It would all be “Hunky Dorey” if not for one important fact. Cowbird eggs hatch sooner and the babies are bigger than the “host’s” bird babies. The Cowbird babies eat more of the available food and often just push their “foster brothers” out of the nest to their death.
Two babies in a Phoebe nest. The large one is a Brown-headed Cowbird chick.
Some small birds, like the Eastern Phoebes, are dwindling in numbers because of those lazy cowbirds!
One good thing is that the Phoebes have more than one nesting per season to make-up for the first disaster. I’ve yet to find cowbird eggs in a second nest. Doesn’t mean that Cowbirds won’t lay in the same nest again…I just haven’t witnessed it.
As I’m sitting before this blank screen today, I’m listening to an occasional car pass by. There is a cat bird somewhere out there too. I was about 40 years old before I took an interest in birds and the sounds in nature. I guess everything has it’s time and, with so much to learn in one lifetime, we choose our priorities.
Catbird
I believe it was the puzzle that enticed me to pay attention. I love puzzles and just don’t like not knowing things.It’s not to be a smarty pants. I realized how many folks had misinformation and felt it my duty to pass on the truth. I figured they hadn’t found their time to listen yet and I could be their investigator for “time-saving” knowledge.
My interest peaked about 12 years ago when we purchased 30 acres of woodland in New York State. That August, my husband had been clearing brush and reported hearing (what he believed were) tree frogs. This didn’t make sense to me. Frogs wouldn’t mate that close to Fall, would they? The sound was definitely foreign to me which I found really interesting since I had spent many years out-of-doors within miles of our land. I happened to be reading a book devoted to grasshoppers and katydids. (See, my nature interests stirred up just at the right time!) It was a journal from a naturalist and it described a sound that seemed to fit the mystery. My Mom had the first computer in our family. She was happy to bring up a site of nature sounds for me.( among them were katydids.) “That’s it!” I shouted. The mystery had been solved! After that, I told many locals who did not know what that delightful “creaking” chorus of the night was. I passed the knowledge on to those who cared. Some even argued when their misinformation was challenged. I stood firm and proud of my investigation.
Katydid
The next year, I found an amazing looking frog clinging to the side of my camper. He was gray and greenish with the cutest suction cup fingertips. I had wondered what he was and took him home to a terrarium that I had set up just for one week. He was a gray tree frog, a usually unseen inhabitant of woodlands. I say HE because,luckily, I had found a male. His blacken throat and awesome song provided those clues of his gender. Believe it or not, his trill was a sound that had puzzled me during the daytime. Two mysteries had been uncovered. I returned him to the place where he was found.
Gray Tree Frog
My granddaughter and I sit and listen in the forest almost every weekend. I am pointing out the correct information and she is an eager naturalist-in-training. Wouldn’t it be cool if she used this knowledge and interest to become a scientist one day? THAT will be up to her. At least, she’ll have a head start in that area!
To be greeted with a sweet song in the morning and the same one at day’s end.
The song of the American Robin. Sweet music at both ends of a summer day.
TRUE STORY: I once had one of those clocks which rang a bird song on each hour. 7:00 am was the American Robin. My work day began at 6:00 am and so I became very accustom to the robins after I was up and running. On my weeks vacation in the forest, I heard their lovely morning serenade only to jump out of a quasi-sleep announcing,”I’m late!”
The hardest part of the summer heat is that my windows are closed and my air-conditioner is the only sound.
I relish those days at camp where the sweetest voices make me smile before I open my eyes to a new day.
Mensen maken de samenleving en nemen daarin een positie in. Deze website geeft toegang tot een diversiteit aan artikelen die gaan over 'samenleven', belicht vanuit verschillende perspectieven. De artikelen hebben gemeen dat er gezocht wordt naar wat 'mensen bindt, in plaats van wat hen scheidt'.
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