Many many years ago my younger brother who was probably 4 or 5 was convinced he could feed the birds by hand. He had watched us throw out bread crumbs and saw the birds gobble it up. So one day our family watched very quietly from the sliding glass door as my little brother laid down on the patio and streched out his hand. He had put about 10 bread crumbs in his palm. He layed his head down and pretty much fell asleep. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen. Now he would probably never admit to doing this now that he is the strong muscular adult he is, but the preciousness and innocence of a child is always remembered!!
So I get to gloat a bit. As his older sister I tried a different method of feeding. Our family went on a trip to Colorado. We stayed in some condos near a lake. By one of the public porches there was a hummingbird feeder. I stood there for an hour watching the rubys zip and nip and fight and sip. I was absolutely transfixed. Every 10 minutes or so I would inch closer to the feeder. After almost an hour I put my finger up by the foot rest of the feeder and I was delighted when the hummingbirds actually landed on my finger to eat the sugar water. I have actually tried to do this at other feeders since but now as a wife and a mother its hard to make the time needed to wait for the birds =)
Alabama’s State Bird is the Yellowhammer. It’s proper name is the Northern (common) Flicker part of the Woodpecker family. The back of the male is gray-brown with broken black waves. It’s belly is speckled and the males have a “mustache”. They also have a back”bib” on their chest. The underparts of the wing and tail are yellow.
The flicker nests in April and the female lays 6-10 eggs, one a day until done. The eggs incubate for 17 days and when the fledglings are about a month old they leave the nest. Both parents care for the young birds. They love to eat ants and their favorite berry comes from the poison ivy plant. The name Yellowhammer dates back to the Civil War when the confederate soldiers in Alabama wore bright yellow armbands.
***Flickers will nest in birdhouses!!! They need a 7X7 space that is 16 inches deep. The entrance needs to be 2.5 inches in diameter and about 2 inches from the top. The nest box needs to be 6-20 feet from the ground and the bottom should be covered with wood chips about 2 inches deep.
Build a birdhouse…Save a state bird!!
Enjoy the printable color sheet.
A couple weekends ago I went with my family to a lake cottage in East Texas this is what I wrote while I was there.
A place of retreat. A blessing to many. A home made for a yearning heart. A simple place to rest. Needs are met. Refreshing comes.
You walk inside and your eyes are drawn to the windows. They ache to be rolled up. The double doors call to be unsealed. Without waiting you throw open the windows and a whoosh of fresh air meets your face. You slide the door with a satisfying screech as the wind pushes through the opening and gently caresses your face. It beckons you to travel on. The silent patio is only an entryway to the true outdoors. It’s a waiting place for refreshing. The creak of door and first step let you know the path hasn’t been taken for some time. The wooden walkway dully vibrates as you travel outwards; your body aching to be nearer to the water. The weeds and grasses push onto the pathway trying to reach across to places they have not been. The minnows scatter into the pond scum as the walkway vibrates with footsteps. A momentary pause in the cricket and frog songs signals your passing. The spiders’ webs are expertly spun along the handrail. The webs pulse in the wind, their creator not visible. A dead log creates visual interest upon stepping onto the dock. Satisfaction mounts as you travel to the edge and look out over the muddied waters and survey the shore. As you stand still listening, the insects and amphibians restart their chorus to the creator. The occasional airplane and vehicle remind you that civilization is not far from this retreat.
Scanning the shore you see the gathering water birds. They are far enough away their calls barely echo. With field glasses they come into sharper focus. They look like they are dancing along the waters edge. Each bird vying for a place to dip their feet. The youth play and the eldest preen. The dragonflies perform a dance with their doubled wings. They zig and zag and go up and down and then pick a place to rest until something deters it back into flight. Their blues and greens are vibrant, their eyes ever searching the waters. They dip into the blackness refreshing their bodies from the sun. The black water ripples with the wind. The closer water is absorbent then it paves the way for the bright reflection of the sun. The ripples are silent but the trees sound their leaves in triumph. A neighbors voice is carried on the wind. New spider strings float in the air undulating with the airy current looking for a place to fasten. They attach to the railings and whisper their landing. The shores edge is encased in trees. All anchored where water abounds. They stand straight and tall, their leaves beginning to show the coming fall. The sun is hot and it bears down on the flesh but the wind keeps it from searing. Searching the water, bubbles from the deep are evidence of the life below. They pop at the surface and you wait for its maker but nothing surfaces. A cow loes and a bird in flight calls. Unexplained sounds make you lift your head but not seeing you look back to the water. In the distance turtles balance lazily on stumps storing up the sun in their shells. With your eyes closed you imagine the Creator, the One who placed the trees on the shore and filled the lake with abundant life. The One who gives you peace and warms you with his Son!
With silence comes solace. The wind refreshes. The water renews. A break from the routine, the day flows as it may.
I thought it would be fun to go through the state birds with my kiddos so I will pass on my research with you!!! I know our 3 year-old will love the bird pictures as well as the printable color sheets, but I am pretty sure our 1 year-old will probably just point and yell “gogogogogog”(code for cute-furry-animal) at the picture and if I am brave enough to print out a color sheet I can guarantee it will crumpled up and thrown on the floor in 3 seconds flat =) if not first put in his mouth! Hopefully your kids will enjoy the information and the color sheets. Happy State Birding!
So as I said yesterday I thought today might be more “birdy” than usual since we had our fun day at the park. We started off our day looking through National Geographic’s “Field Guide to Birds of North America”. Just a bit off light reading before breakfast. I must say the bird guides are getting better at showing the underside of birds!! I was quite impressed with the number of “in-flight” pictures of ducks, shearwaters and gulls. Now I can be sure the kids and I will be even more proficient naming the birds since what we usually see is their bellys (as they fly away from us)!
So the birding did not end there. We took our usual 20 minute walk about our neighborhood which by chance is also bird related- Quail Creek. Kids are natural birders (kind of). They are quick to see, point out and then scare away all birds that happen by our happy group. We saw Mourning Doves and House Sparrows aplenty. We walked home to “Mom did you see that bird”, “Mom I saw another bird”, “Mom SEEEEEEEE”
So just when I thought perhaps we had our fill of birds I turned on our pre-lunch TV show “Build a Word” and lo and behold they were talking about birds. It was the cutest thing. The star of the show was an egg. The other animals on the show picked the most motherly and fluffy animal to care for it while its mother was away (the sheep of course). The egg wouldn’t stay where it was put- it would jump and hop around until they solved that problem with a nest (or if you want to stay with the theme of this blog- a birdhouse). So after a night in the nest the sheep awoke to the horror that the egg had a crack in it. All the animals gathered around trying to figure out what had happened. The duck of course just laughed and said that the egg was ready to hatch and voila it did. Oh happy day- the little bird emerged just as mother bird swooped in to claim its baby. And all the while these characters are teaching young ones to spell. GOSH I am tired just writing this.
Well I couldn’t let all this good bird training go to waste so my 3 year-old and I sat down after lunch and did a fun bird craft. We took muffin cups and flattened them out and snipped away at the muffin cup to where it had tail feathers and wings. Then we glued these partial birds onto paper leaving the wings free. With a marker we made necks and heads and eyes. Pretty cool craft =)
So that was just the first half of my day. What did you do today?
Build a birdhouse, save a bird!
Yesterday I took our 3 and 1 year-old kids to a nearby lake and we all enjoyed their squeals of delight as they discovered the Mallard ducks, Graylag geese, and American Coots swimming along minding their own business. My son calls anything that is an animal or bird a “gog gog”. He was yelling at the top of his lungs “gogogogogogog”. His verbal display was enough to keep the birds at a safe distance(for them). And being a typical parent I snapped a few pics of my daughter running through the grass hoping to “pet” a grackle or two. It was a brief break from the routine we normally keep during the day and its something I am sure to hear about tomorrow.
As you can tell by my website and blog I am pro birdhouses. It doesn’t matter whether they are white or black or old or new or organic or processed. All birdhouses rank high with me!! The number one reason I do not discriminate against birdhouses is BIRDS + BIRDHOUSE = NO MORE BUGS!!! As a mother of 2 children I am tired of spraying my kids with toxic bug repellants so they can enjoy the great outdoors. Is Citronella the in-fragrance? NO MORE I SAY!! My backyard is about to become bug free the natural way. Build a birdhouse…Bugs bite the dust!
Did you know there is a ‘most wanted’ list for birdhouses. Can you imagine such a thing? Cornell University has a great ornithology department. Their website “The Birdhouse Network” mentions the usual birdhouse occupants: Eastern Bluebirds, Western Bluebirds and Mountain Bluebirds, Tree Swallows, House Wrens and House Sparrows but they are eager to learn more about the other “cavity-nesting” birds that don’t show up on their usual “Top 10″ lists. So they have given the public an assignment. One I am sure avid bird watchers will take quite seriously. Please if you want to help Cornell in their research department they are eager for you to set up bird houses a.k.a. nesting cavities for the following birds: Mountain Chickadee, Purple Martin, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Eastern Screech Owl, Great Crested Flycatcher, Bewick’s Wren and many more. Check out http://www.birds.cornell.edu/birdhouse/outreach/most_wanted and see the birds and what kind of cozy home you can build for them!!
Build a birdhouse…Save a bird!
Have you ever noticed going through a day without ever seeing or hearing a bird. Well I think today would have been that day for me. Granted the day is not over yet, but I have not seen a Sparrow or heard a Mockingbird or hoped to scare away a Grackle. I am pretty sure the hecticness of changing diapers and making meals and running off to the store did not blind me from noticing the birds.
I am even more convinced of the need for birdhouses now. Have we industrialized ourselves so much that now we can actually go through half of a day without seeing a feathered friend. I have 3 large trees in my yard and I went out even now and looked up and listened, not a chirp or a feather.
I am here to help save the birds from the impending concrete disaster. Please join me. Build a birdhouse…Save a bird!
Big birdhouses, small birdhouses, wooden birdhouses, decorative birdhouses…there are just as many different types of birdhouses as there are people.
You know the saying ‘pets often look like their owners’…well the same applies to birdhouses. We pick birdhouses based on our personality.
*If you like to decorate in the shabby chic style an elaborate but tasteful birdhouse hits that pleasure spot!!
*If you are very down to earth you would probably pick a simple wooden birdhouse.
*If you are a little more artistic then you would probably own a painted gourd birdhouse.
* If you love action and conversation a purple martin birdhouse would be just right for you.
*If you are like me part artistic, part down to earth and mostly melancholy then you would have an authentic turn of the century ceiling tile birdhouse that had been scientifically tested to only attract bluebirds!!
The list goes on and perhaps one day I will create a test that matches personality style to type of birdhouse but for now I encourage you to pick one or 2 birdhouses and enjoy the show!
Send any questions, comments, pictures, stories and more to cs@everydaybirdhouses.com
