Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Thursday Thirteen #10



Thirteen Birds on my Life List
I attribute my love of birds to my Aunt Beulah and Uncle George of Springfield, Missouri. Aunt Beulah was my grandmother's older sister and a sweeter woman I never met. When I was a young teenager, I would go and spend a week with them experiencing absolute bliss. They were a happily married couple of many decades that truly loved one another and everyone around them. Their home had a large backyard that was a haven for birds, it helped that they had numerous feeders to attract them. I remember sitting at Aunt Beulah's kitchen table as she would identify the birds for me.
I forgot how wonderful it was to enjoy the birds until I began homeschooling my boys and looking at the wonderful "science lesson" we had right outside our backdoor.
When I began paying attention again, the only birds I could identify were cardinals, blue jays, robins and everything else was a "sparrow". It has been fun to learn the different birds and their habits. These are the birds I have personally seen and recorded in my nature notebook...
1. Great Blue Heron...saw this at Lake Grapevine one day when the boys and I were doing a nature "drive". I told them what we were looking for and I kept looking up, finally Cowodie said "isn't that it, right outside your window?" Sure enough, it was standing in the middle of the road!
2. Brown bat. There was a mother and 4 of her babies in our front flower bed. At first I thought it was a dead animal, when I went to get a shovel to remove it they began flapping...can I say I jumped! Technically I know the bat is a mammal, but it flies and made it in my journal.
3. Red-winged Blackbird..one time very common in our area, housing developments are pushing them away due to loss of habitat.
4. House Finch. I was so excited when I learned that these were NOT sparrows. The males have lovely red heads and breasts.
5. Carolina Wren. We were fortunate to watch him build a nest in our birdhouse, attract a mate and raise a brood. We even got to see the little ones learn to fly...very cool.
6. Bewick Wren. The next year this one built a nest in the same house. It was pitiful to listen to him day after day try to attract a mate. He never did, so he left.
7. Goldfinch. I was so excited the day I saw one of these for the first time. The coloring is so amazing. We saw it in the backyard at the regular feeder, so of course I went to buy the right feeder and EXPENSIVE feed, he never came back that year! Isn't that the way it is??
8. Juncos. I love to see these each winter. We never see them until it gets really cold then they are around every day. This year they didn't come south until January.
9. Tufted Titmouse. Just the cutest little birds. I love to watch them.
10. Chickadee. They are a cousin to the titmouse, I never see one without the other. It is fun to watch them dive the feeder. They never sit long.
11. Cedar Waxwing. I have only seen one up close. It was sitting in my crepe myrtle and waited for me to identify it. At first I thought it was a titmouse, the more I looked I knew it wasn't. I was afraid it would fly away before I could remember enough about it, but it just sat there so patiently and let me get rather close.
12. Brown creeper. Neat little bird that just climbs up and down a tree trunk.
13. Yellow-rumped Warbler. This was my new find this year. The lady at the bird store told me its common name is a "butter-butt". The boys and I will call it a yellow-rumped warbler, thank you very much...butt is a bad word at our house.
I must stop, but I really don't want to....I have also seen egrets, cattle egrets, woodpeckers, hawks, and killdeer, just to name a few more. I hope that I am instilling a love for birds in the boys like my Aunt Beulah did for me. I think it is getting through, they will call to me from the window..."hey mamsie, did you see....?"
What birds are common in your area?

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

So, I'm pretty sure I put my name in the wrong place, but that's OK.

I like that you love birds. It's never really been my thing (I love cats and they eat birds), but I always learn so much from you.

I will definitely check out more of your page, and make lots of comments. : )

Raggedy said...

What a wonderful TT.
You may be interested in one of my older posts. My children really liked it. I went and checked and all the links are still good.

http://its-a-raggedy-life.blogspot.com/2006/05/bird-clickfest.html

Terrific Thursday Thirteen!
My TT is posted.
Have a wonderful day!
Happy TT'ing!
*^_^
(=':'=)
(")_ (")Š
Raggedy

Anonymous said...

Wow! Here in the city you see a few birds in the parks.
Jays, cardinals, pigeons, mourning doves, ducks, the occasional swan or hawk, and a charming chubby little green and golden bird that I don't know the name of.
I've always longed to see a real hummingbird in the wild.
Thanks for sharing,

Anonymous said...

great 13 - my mil has a flowery nightdress thingy she loves to wearwhile sitting on the porch in summer - the hummingbirds come right up to her!

Gattina said...

Blogger comments were on strike this morning so I am late. I love birds too, but no nothing about them and a feeder in our garden would be cruel for them with our four cats, lol !

Jane said...

I don't see that many varieties of birds in LA. I am sure they are there, but I don't know them that well. My grandparents are teaching their great granddaughter all about birds. It's helpful to know about birds because they are often used as symbols in upper grade reading passages.

Anonymous said...

This is Kerry. I forgot to put my name on my last post. I've given you a link to my new blog. Yes, I finally broke down and started one. : )

Anonymous said...

This is the correct one.

Loretta @ Stitching the Night Away said...

a most beautiful thirteen indeed!

Anonymous said...

This is such an informational post. I don't know many birds. I know the cardinal because it is the NC state bird. Other than that I can only really identify bluejays, crows, and sparrows. Thanks for visiting my TT.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful TT. Do you have any photos of these birds?

Barbara said...

I bird watch, so I love your TT. The only two I've never seen that you've listed is the Bewick Wren and Cedar Waxwing.

Check out my Thursday Thirteen

Mo and The Purries said...

Ha! We think it's fun that you added a bat to your bird journal!
Daphne and Chloe from Purrchance To Dream
like to watch the mourning doves and juncos in the snow!
Great TT!
Morgen

Gail said...

Sounds like we have similar birds. I have only seen herons at the beach, though. We have finches, sparrows, mourning doves, bluebirds, cardinals, robins, all sorts of woodpeckers including those amazingly large pileated woodpeckers, mockingbirds, orioles... Just all sorts.

My mother is continuing to do poorly and has actually gotten much worse this week, so I do appreciate your prayers.

What do you think of the letter "P" for your alphabet letter meme? :)I'll be back to see what you come up with.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for commenting on my TT....I will be posting a follow up with the causes and effects.....

Lisa said...

Lovely T13. Birds are wonderful creatures and there are so many of them. Delightful in colour and nature.

Lori's Light Extemporanea said...

We also love to bird watch but I haven't replaced our feeder since the nasty wasps built a nest in it in the summer.

Happy TT!

Irish Church Lady :) said...

Cool Thirteen! I admire people who can identify birds so well and easily. Not something I've taken the time to study more thoroughly although I am an animal lover, generally.

Saw a beautiful red headed woodpecker on my run today in the woods! He was gorgeous!

Thanks for your drop in on my TT today. Sorry about your Mom. It is very hard isn't it? I hope you get peace soon too!

Janice (5 Minutes for Mom) said...

I love bird watching. When I was ill and homebound my mom built a bird "sanctuary" on my porch. I had more than 30 species visit my little garden. It was such a blessing.

THANKS for the enthusiastic congrats at my place today!!! SOOOO appreciated. :)

Amber said...

WOW! I don't know anything about birds -- that's impressive!

Jill said...

I enjoye so much listening to them in the summer, exept for raven and crow... I'm just relaxing in my back yard!!