Posted in Talking About the Family
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Have you ever noticed how as people age they start showing an interest in birds? Retired couples everywhere are hanging birdhouses and filling birdfeeders. I've never really been interested in birds before. Never liked the surprise droppings falling from the sky. I spent a lot of time at the beach growing up and on occassion a nice elderly person would bring down a loaf of stale bread to feed the seagulls. Oh I'm sure their intentions were good, spending time with a little kid feeding the birds seems so nice. But let me tell you, those seagulls can become quite bold and before you know it they are fighting over the bread scraps and dive bombing the child, who is only trying to be nice. YIKES! I think I must be getting old. The last time I went to the beach I got a good feeling as I gazed upon the seagulls and listened to their unmistakable call. Last month I asked my parents to give me their window bird feeder that they no longer used. DH mounted it in the window but we have yet to witness any birds eating from it. And just this week DH built two new bird houses. Friday he hung the two of them plus another in different areas of the yard. Yesterday, a pair of wrens moved in and we, as a family sat on the back deck and watched them build their nest.
DH got out a camera and a couple pairs of binoculars for us to take a real close up look without disturbing them. Even though they are right in our backyard, we were trying to see their exact coloring, they are such tiny little birds. At first we thought maybe sparrows but after I got the Bird Fandex out, we were able to identify them as wrens based on their coloring, uplifted tail, beak and bubbly music. I also pulled out my copy of Birds at Home by Marguerite Henry, a beautifully illustrated book written with warmth and humor. Sadly it does not include a color illustration of the house wren but we did learn that the male wren will fly north, ahead of the female, and build little nests everywhere in hopes that his dear wife will like one of them. But she does not like ANY of his nests! And she can't sing like her husband. "She just sputters about everything. Not a single nest pleases her. 'Tsk, tsk! What rubbish!' she seems to say..." (That would explain the uninhabited cup shaped nest we found in the petunia plant out front.) Finally, "she chooses a nest, tosses out all of her mate's twigs, and builds to suit herself."
Since I am not even close to retirement age, I am going to have to assume that the subject of birds must be a homeschooler thing too. But now what will I do when I grow old? |
We laughed quite a bit reading those pages. DH loved it and it was so nice to have something we could all enjoy together as a family.
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