Chirps
Halloween has long gone, and Thanksgiving rapidly approaches. This morning the frost lay heavy upon the lawn and the winter sun now has little warmth. The hummingbirds have headed south, and my backyard birds are hitting the bird feeder heavily, for lack of caterpillars, mosquitoes, and other nourishing delicacies hidden beneath the layers of fallen brown leaves.
I’ve always liked birds. As a child, I remember the yellow canary in its cage hanging near the east window of my grandmother’s home. It would sing its melodies especially in the morning when the sun shone warmly through the window. But I always felt a twinge of sadness that it was in a birdcage, though it seemed happy enough at the time.
The same subtle sadness overcame me when I visited my mother at a rehab / nursing home several years ago after she had fallen and broken her wrist. In the front foyer there was a large bird sanctuary enclosed by glass which contained probably 20 finches, of all colors, blue and green and red and yellow, all very merrily flitting from one branch to another inside the cage; some were even preparing a home of grass and straw placed in there between the forks of branches. Beautiful.
Now, finches like to gather together in a group, but I still felt sad that they were confined to that glass enclosure, like what you see at the zoo. They should be free to fly, I told myself. However, I reminded myself that they were serving a purpose. They were bringing both music and beauty into the lives of the residents living there. The residents would come to the foyer in their wheelchairs and sit and watch the finches by the hour playfully flitting back and forth and peeking out from their little nests that they had made.
Music and beauty they brought into each day. I think they are one of the best gifts that God has given humankind. They never hurt anything other than gobbling up grubs and bugs. They never ask for anything, and they seem happy enough, freely flying amongst the trees, hiding behind nature’s camouflage of green and brown. They bring joy into our lives just sitting and watching them.
The birds in my backyard, visiting the bird feeder, do the same for me. I sit in my chair on the deck with my morning steaming coffee, not in a wheelchair yet, watching the birds feed by the hour. Each day, they bring peace and happiness to me as little gifts, as they enjoy their seeds and nuts.
In my wooded backyard, the cardinal is the king and queen of this kingdom. Bright red and muted rose, the male and female will visit to have their meals of sunflower seeds and nuts. They give out a series of angry chirps when they want to show their impatience with me in not keeping the feeder full of their favorite food. Though not mean spirited, they won’t hesitate to chase other birds away if they feel their territory is invaded. They feed until they’re full and then fly away to let the other birds come to the table.
The daintiest feeders are the Black-Capped Chickadees. They, along with the Titmouse, another kind of bird, not a mouse, are known as branch feeders. They fly down from the branches of the nearby trees, pick one seed and fly back up into the branch to gradually nibble at the seed. They never spill the seed from the bird feeder and are very dainty feeders. They dart back and forth, then fly away to other things. The Titmice are larger birds with a bluish-gray tone and short beak and very black eyes. They’re beautiful birds but you don’t see them for long because they, like the chickadee, politely take a seed and fly back to the branch.
On the contrary, is the Carolina Wren. Now this little rascal is mischievous. It’s a little brown bird with an upturned tail and a slightly curved beak about the size of a small sparrow with brown markings. You always know that it’s a Carolina Wren because of its quick jerky movements; it seems perky and hyperactive. My wife and I jokingly call it our ADHD birds. They’re very friendly and will come up on the porch, sit on the railing and look around as though they owned the deck, and we were invading their territory. Sometimes they will take over an empty deck chair and sit on the back of the chair trilling their noisy song. For a little bird, it has a very loud and distinctive song. And you can hear it in the woods and recognize it a long distance away. They mostly like worms and bugs so it feeds on the ground a lot. But it will come up to old cedar feeder if I put some mealworms in it. Of all the birds that I enjoy, the Carolina Wren is easily the most careless and messy eater, thrashing around in the bird feeder spilling the nuts and seeds upon the ground. Then it flies down upon the ground and tries to eat them before the other birds do. But I have plenty of feed.
We have scarlet finches too. They usually come in a little flock of 8 or 10, attacking the feeder like a band of sparrows looking for bits of sunflower seeds or mealworms. Then they all fly away as a group to find another snack.
With the chill of late fall, the Eastern bluebirds have started to return. They live near here but only come to feed. Usually, they are over by the local golf course snapping up insects from the ground that they love to munch on. But now they visit my feeder looking for the mealworms which they regard as a delicacy. I’ll feed them throughout the winter until the bugs come out again. They’re very polite. They land on the top of the shepherd’s hook which holds my wooden feeder and wait there until the other birds finish feeding and fly away. Then they’ll flutter down on the feeder and eat as many mealworms as they can before flying back to their home. Their bright blue coloring is spectacular. I bought them a birdhouse this last spring, but they didn’t nest there. I think the three squirrels that run around bothered them some. But I trust that they have found, perhaps even a better place to nest. We’ll see next spring what they decide.
Now and then we’ll see a Flicker, a type of small woodpecker, marked by its beautiful stark white and black markings with its long, pointed beak. It will visit the feeder, but it usually prefers to feed on insects from the large oak nearby.
Another bird we will be seeing again soon would be the Rufus-Sided Towhee. It’s a larger bird about the size of a robin, but its rusty-colored side and white tummy with black mantle make it one of the more striking birds to watch. It’s usually a ground feeder, and we see it a lot both in the spring and during the winter, along with the white-bellied snowbirds.
One of the funniest birds to watch is the large Brown Thrasher. They thrash and hop through the leaves of the woods and stab with their long beak into the underlying debris to gobble up grubs and snails and worms to their great delight.
There are other birds that visit us on their migratory routes going to their newly to be formed homes and nests. They stop for a day or two on their journey. And I enjoy them all.
There aren’t many birds I don’t enjoy, although I’m not particularly fond of Blue Jays. Loud and boisterous, they are aggressive and often chase away the other birds when the Jays want to greedily feed. So sometimes I’ll chase them back into the woods if they get too rambunctious.
Beyond their musical chirps and trills, their beauty and their friendship, it seems like they bring a measure of peace to any day. I read a report not long ago, I think it was a British article that outlined the beneficial effects to people, not only being in and amongst nature, but specifically enjoying the sounds and sights of birds. For the health conscious of you, here is some data:
• Researchers in the UK recently concluded that people who live in neighborhoods with more afternoon bird populations report less stress, anxiety and feelings of depression.
• A 2017 study published in Bioscience for example, found that bird abundance in urban neighborhoods was associated with a lower prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress.[1]
• Another study, published in 2020 in Ecological Economics, showed a correlation between happiness and the number of bird species around people’s homes and towns. [2]
• A Time magazine article: https:// time.com/62318864 /birdwatching -mental – health; reported a study published in October in Scientific Reports which found that seeing or hearing birds improved people’s mental well-being for up to 8 hours. [3]
• A Time magazine article: https:// time.com/62318864 /birdwatching -mental – health; reported a study published in October in Scientific Reports which found that seeing or hearing birds improved people’s mental well-being for up to 8 hours. [4]
Advantages of Bird Watching:
Mental health benefits from stress and anxiety:
• It encourages you to live in the present moment
• It gives you perspective, introspection
• It is a bit like meditation, contemplation
• It is entertaining, joyful and positive
• It gets one outside amongst nature, which has its own separate benefits
• It gives one a sense of companionship
It would be a shame to end this meditation without mentioning the noblest of birds, the American Bald Eagle. It’s enjoyed a resurgence in numbers, did you know that? In 1950, it was estimated that there were fewer than 1,000 Bald Eagles in the United States. Today, it’s estimated that there are an estimated 317,000 in the lower United States, since the discontinuance of the insecticide, DDT. They were once felt to be approaching extinction because of the use of DDT which was ingested from the fish they ate from the lakes that were contaminated with DDT. However, there are many more in Canada than in the U.S.
Bald Eagles
• They are the national symbol of the United States of America…featured on the seal of the United States since 1782.
• Got its name from an old English word, b a l d e, which meant white. The Latin name “Haliaeetus leucocephalus” means “white-headed sea eagle”, referencing its genus classification.
• Mostly found around rivers, lakes, and coastal areas near open water because they feed primarily upon fish. Bald eagles are only found in North America, primarily in the United States, Canada, and northern parts of Mexico.
• Their lifespan is between 15-20 years.
• An average adult bald eagle weighs about 9 lbs. and is about 3 ft. in height. Their wingspan measures from 5.5 to 7.5 ft. The female bald eagle is actually larger, as much as 25% larger, than the males. They mate for life unless one dies or disappears. They usually mate where they were born and lay usually two or three eggs, mostly in February. They’re good parents with both parents feeding the young ones and covering the young ones in the nest with their wings like an umbrella to protect them from hot sun and heavy rainfall or snowfall.
• Their eyesight is amazing, six to seven times better than humans, and can detect prey up to 2 miles away. They can also see ultraviolet light. Some eagles have been found feeding on rats, mice, squirrels, snakes, and even larger prey like monkeys and sloths.
• Their hearing is as good as that of humans and their distance vision is three to four times better than humans. Their grip is 10 times that of the average human.
• Average flying speed can be between 35-43 mph; but can be over 100 mph when diving or gliding.
• The largest nest recorded by Guinness records was built by a pair of bald eagles near St. Petersburg, Florida, measuring 9 ft. 6 in. wide and 20 ft. deep. The nests are usually built by both sexes, and they renovate the nest each year sometimes with up to 2 ft. of additional material.
• It usually takes a juvenile bald eagle four or five years to get their characteristic white plumage.
• Both Bald and Golden Eagles (and their feathers) are highly revered and considered sacred within American Indian traditions, culture, and religion. They are honored with great care and shown the deepest respect. They represent honesty, truth, majesty, strength, courage, wisdom, power. and freedom.
Make your backyard a bird sanctuary, journal the different kinds of birds you see or take photographs of them. Take a birding course or get a book from the Audubon Society about the different kinds of birds in your area. Get a cell phone app to learn the different bird songs of the various species of birds in your area and record those.
Relax and enjoy the entertainment of Nature’s beauty. Deep breathe. Enjoy the sunshine. Listen to the music and see the beauty. Best of all is that in their freedom and happiness, our avian companions remind me that life can be enjoyed simply by being grateful and free.
[1] A Time magazine article: https:// time.com/62318864 /birdwatching -mental – health
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.