Birds Of A Feather

Over the past twelve months, my family and I have had the privilege of spotting some of God's unique and beautiful fine feathered creatures. I'm talking birds that none of us had ever laid eyes on before in the wild (what can I say...I guess we have been living under a rock) - some never at all, not even in a zoo or wildlife preserve. The first in a series of these special sightings took place last winter. In the late hours of a January afternoon my son was riding his bike home from a neighborhood friends house. He decided to take a left and cruise down around the cul-de-sac at the end of the street before coming home for supper. There are no sidewalks in our development so everyones mailbox is located right along the curb. As he peddled down Pleasant Hill Drive past one of the homes on his right, he saw a plastic bird perched on top of someones mailbox. It is not unusual to see lawn ornaments and statues on various properties around Lancaster County so he thought nothing of it. As he completed the circle and headed back in the direction he had just come, he glanced once again at that decorated mailbox just in time to see the bird blink... the bird that he had previously thought to be plastic. It was then that he realized he was close enough to touch a real red tailed hawk sitting there like a statue watching his every move. He rushed home to tell us what he had just seen, but by the time we went back to the now infamous mailbox, the hawk had vanished.

Several months later in the early spring it was our pleasure to host a family of bluebirds as they took up temporary residence in the holly bush of our front yard. They would flit around the branches eating the holly berries until their round little bellies were full. They would then fly away day after day leaving us to wonder if we would ever see them again only to return the next morning for the holly's offering of a red berry breakfast. Finally, one by one, they flew the coop never to show their plump peach colored breasts again.

Next, I had the privilege of seeing a hummingbird in the courtyard at work feeding on the nectar of the magenta flowers of a wispy shrub. This little creature was as close to me on the other side of the glass window as you are to your computer screen so I was able to see him in great detail except for the blur on either side of his tiny body. He stayed out there "humming" from one flower to the next for several hours before he moved on.

Spring also brought with it many attacks on various windows around the ground level of our home. I would be in the kitchen washing dishes when a rhythmic tapping would sound in the living room. As I quickly left the sudsy water, drying my hands on the back of my slacks as I went in preparation of opening the front door, I would see a feathered culprit at my front window insistently requesting entrance to the house with his bright orange beak. From time to time this would happen at the back of the house as well. It was an unusual behavior by some not so unusual birds and it served as another unique birding event that my family and I experienced over the next several months.

The next series of sightings can easily explained as we went further south for vacation than we had ever been before, at least by car. Over the years, sometimes not always at the same time, most members of my family have flown to Florida and three years ago we all became eligible to join Royal Caribbeans Crown and Anchor Society by cruising with them to ports in the Bahamas, Key West, Cancun and Cozumel Mexico, and the Port Canaveral/Orlando area. The ship's guest register included various invited friends and family members as my handsome son and his beautiful wife were married as we disembarked in Key West on a lovely June morning. It was the trip of a life time...the wedding, the travel, the ship, the never before seen ports, the food...oh, the food - the whole nine yards. I remember one day as I was lounging near the pool on deck, my son looked at me and said it was as if I had been born to cruise - like I had been doing this my whole life. At the same time he couldn't believe I was there, sunning on the deck with a book and drink in hand, and had literally left the country to boot! I am not someone that leaves my backyard very often. What can I say, I'm a homebody!

Anyway, back to the birds. While vacationing just south of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina this past August with my immediate and extended family I had, what was for me, several unique and special bird sightings. I had the pleasure of lying on the beach as tiny sandpipers ran back and forth with the rhythm with the surf. I was a kid from the Phillie area where the Jersey beaches were the place to be and the only birds I ever observed on the beach were sea gulls swooping down to steel my french fries and, occasionally much to my delight, pooping on my brother's head. However, we were now in the south and looking out over the beach from our private deck, I observed brown pelicans flying just above the ocean in groups of two and three diving for their breakfast in the quiet of the early dawn. One late afternoon just before sunset as we ate hush puppies on the deck of a restaurant located along an ocean inlet, I saw two storks flying inland with their giant legs and feet flapping in the breeze. It was a sight to behold and one that I will never forget. OK, I realize these were not unusual sightings for most, but for me, they were golden!

I love all wildlife, but have never thought of myself as a fanatic in that regard. As time marches on, however, it just seems so impossible to me to actually view something in person that I have only ever seen on the glossy pages of National Geographic...as if those images are not a real part of this world, just set decorations or representations of someones wild imagination that the passage of time cements as a fantasy and a concept of impossible reality. The older I get the more I appreciate experiencing all that God has made. I think part of that appreciation is because every year that I am alive and experiencing only the routine and common aspects of life, becomes one more year that I am on this earth without seeing things that others have always known. For that reason every new thing in nature I am given the privilege of being exposed to is like being given the best of all possible of gifts and the ultimate blessing of life. The longer one has to wait for something, the sweeter it becomes. I am sure another aspect of my evolving gratitude and appreciation for all of God's creation is because of the fact that I love where I live and keep that area so close to heart and home. I am, as I mentioned before, someone who is content and happy to stay home and, therefore, I have many less chances to see things unique and unusual to my little corner of the world.

After a particularly rainy couple of days in early November, my family and I were driving home after dark along an isolated back road that winds itself through the tall trees lining a nearby meadow stream. There is no man made lighting of any sort along that route to guide the way. Because the trees are so thick in that area, the moon beams were blocked as well. Suddenly, among a pile of wet leaves that had been brought down by the rain and left matted and wet in the middle of the road, I saw a shape. I yelled out and my husband swerved just in time to avoid hitting a tiny owl. Whether it was a baby, or an adult screech owl, we weren't sure. All I can tell you is that he was adorable. He flew up as the car neared his resting place and landed on a branch in clear vision of his vehicular spectators. As we sat in the car for several minutes watching our fine feathered friend I was again in awe. Actually I have heard a owl hooting several times, both in the still morning air and sometimes in the silent dusk of evening somewhere along the woods edge, but have never laid eyes on one except at The Philadelphia Zoo , the oldest zoo in America. To see that little guy out in the woods were he belongs, and knowing he had been there all along, was simply awesome.

The next "bird story" that thrilled my heart was one that didn't even include me in the equation. It was an event that my fourteen year old son was blessed to experience. Dylan was scheduled to play an ice hockey game against a team in Maryland. As my husband drove Dylan and his friend over the Susquehanna River and the state line via the Conowingo Dam, a bald eagle flew right past the side passenger window. Mind you, they were driving over a dam that is 105 feet high and just under one mile long. My son later told me that his dad did not see this miracle of nature, but his friend Austin was a witness to his sighting. I told him never to forget what they saw that day as most people in this world have never seen an eagle soar, let alone in such close proximity to them. It was an ornithologist's dream!

The last aviarian experience I want to tell you about happened on New Years Day. I was working at my job as an RN supervisor and as I walked down the hallway toward the pharmacy, I glanced out through a row of windows that overlook the same grassy courtyard where I had spotted the hummingbird months before. There before me were seven, count em... seven, wild turkeys. For a moment I thought my eyes were deceiving me. I was frozen in awe and afraid to move fearing I would scare them away, but they calmly pecked at the soil with no indication of fright or flight. It looks like 2010 has the potential to be a very good year for me if I'm starting out with a gift like that...actually, seven gifts like that. Hopefully seven really is a lucky number!

Lancaster County and its surrounding areas are the perfect place to live if you love bird watching. Whether or not you are lucky enough to have more than a few species in your own backyard there are so many places to go for sightings. It is an activity that is fun and educational and one that can be done alone or in a group of family or friends. For starters, as recently reported in our local newspaper last week, there are 170 eagle's nests in Pennsylvania alone.

With all that went on for me this year with regard to feathers and beaks, it seemed ironic to have received a particular gift from a friend and coworker this year at Christmas time. She is someone who didn't even know about most of my birding adventures. The gift was a simple suet cage. With it, a homemade block of suet and a recipe of instructions on how to make "breakfast for the birds" was included. You can buy something like this at almost any hardware store or garden center, such as Esbenshades Garden Center and Greenhouses just north of Lititz in Brickerville, but I thought I would share the recipe with you and encourage you to make some yourself for your backyard friends. What a nice thing to do for the feathered creatures that give us so much pleasure just by being what God made them to be. Happy bird watching everybody and feel free to post in the comment section any unique and beautiful birding experiences you have been lucky enough to happen upon!


BREAKFAST FOR THE BIRDS

1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats (not instant)
2 cups of boiling water
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
3/4 cup suet, lard, or vegetable shorting
1/2 cup birdseed
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup Cream of Wheat cereal (not instant)
1/3 cup of cranberries, chopped


Cook the rolled oats in boiling water in a large saucepan for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly until very thick. Remove from heat. Stir in the peanut butter and suet until melted. Stir in the remaining four ingredients. Cool and shape as desired.
You may also use trail mix, nuts, berries, and even peanuts because the birds love them! You can store this in the freezer and use as needed.
One batch makes approximately 6 cakes depending on their thickness.