I have always enjoyed watching the show birds put on in the spring, especially outside the city limits. When I was young and hopeful, the pairing up of birds in the spring tugged at my lonely heart as I wistfully thought of love and all of its entanglements. My feelings of "entanglement" has shifted over the years but I still love the sideshow of love-in-the-air as I make my way down life's highway.
Watching birds pairing off together sets the storyteller within my mind in motion. Ahhh ... nature, instincts, mating rituals, nesting and the arrival of baby birds sets my heart aflutter. As a parent with children between the ages of 24 and 44, I no longer wish for "baby birds" of my own but signs of new life stir up memories of a time when new life was dominant within my thoughts.
Early spring, my eyes are drawn toward the sky. The swooping, diving and little airshow the birds put on before they choose a mate. Next comes the pairing of birds in the courtship phase. Followed by the nesting stage. I am not a scientist and none of what follows is a proven fact but simple observances with a trace of facts retained from years gone by.
What I have noticed about the birds in my own back yard is a Momma Bird appeared to be out shopping for just the right twigs and building material for the nest. As Momma swooped in and disappeared within a tree, Poppa was hot on her tail wings and found a spot in a neighboring tree out in the open where he chirped, made his presence known and diverted attention away from the home Momma Bird was building. Momma seemed to be a bit of a stickler for detail, as it took some time before she flew out of her hiding spot within the tree. Poppa escorted her as she went shopping for whatever she needed next. She didn't settle for anything on the ground beside her. It appeared she didn't want to attract attention to the actual location of her new family.
I thought I was watching a pair of blackbirds when I first noticed our new residents. Perhaps I was right and they got evicted by grackles. All I know for sure, is according to my bird identifier app grackles are the current resident. I hear grackles are a bit of an opportunist within the bird world and steal other birds' nests. I hope this couple built their home from scratch but I'll never know.
Robins are building a nest in the blue spruce tree in the front. There is a lot of bird activity in our east-side yard. A robin with some nesting construction material caught my eye when it perched atop the lawn swing. The moment I noticed the twig in its beak, I watched to see where it headed next. Sure enough we have a family of robins in the front yard with a family of black colored birds in the back. Awww ... isn't love grand?
The next morning, as I opened the blinds I noticed a number of black colored birds outside the kitchen window. There was a robin in their midst with a distinctly red breast. Remnants of that-which-I-learned-as-a-child surfaced to the tip of my consciousness as I admired this robin, identifying it as a male. As I watched the birds scavenge for bugs, I didn't notice the incoming robin with a twig in its mouth and a more muted tone of red (obviously female, right?). She swooped in and her body language translated to human had me imagining her tweeting, "What in the heck are you doing here lazing about when I'm busy building our home?!" Poppa Robin immediately flew off and Momma stopped for a little breakfast before flying off.
Canada geese are my favorite highway attraction. I fear icy, snowy road conditions when driving in the winter. When spring arrives, watching birds is my most dangerous driving hazard. They have paired off and each couple appeared to have their own stretch of real estate and I often spot them grazing in a field. Usually one is eating while the other is on high alert with its neck fully extended.
(Pictures that follow were taken on a June day several years ago)
Note one goose on guard duty as the others are free to graze.
Where you see one goose, there is always another. This past week, I have noticed the bird groupings have increased to four to six. My novice bird watching skills has me wondering if these parents are getting close to having their goslings and are arranging co-parenting support groups. My "knowledge" is based on photos I took of Canada geese in June, so just a little beyond our present date.
This pair of birds must have been assigned daycare duty while the rest of their extended family took a break.
What a sight to behold ... moments that set my heart aflutter.
As I immerse myself in whatever sideshow Nature has in store, I find a childlike quality within myself coming to the surface as I make up little stories about what I see. Long forgotten facts drift to the surface as what I witness triggers little neurons of knowledge from long ago. I feel the weight of the world lift off my shoulders as I am amazed by the miracle of life, instinctual behavior which has resulted in survival of generations of wildlife who manage to populate this world of ours without creating the havoc of their human counterparts.
