It’s the special time of the
year to be thankful. If you read my
column at all you’ll know that I have a deep love of birds. I’ve been asked many times why that is, and
oddly, it’s hard to explain. It’s one of those things: if you love something, no explanation is
needed; if you don’t, none will suffice.
Here are eight reasons the
quickly come to mind that partially explain that love. National Audubon recently did a “Ten Reasons
to Love Birds”, but they included ideas like “money makers”, which I guess is
true, but really doesn’t fit for me.
Maybe you can think of other reasons than these. I can, but there has to be a limit, after
all!
1.
Birds are optimists. On the rainiest, darkest
morning of winter I can find a noisy, busy gathering of chickadees, nuthatches,
juncos and towhees around the feeders.
They’re fluffed out and waterproof, exchanging info about the night just
past, easily shaking sparkles of rain from their tiny backs. Not a sign of a down mood anywhere.
2.
Birds are dependable. Spring migration brings winter
birds back to us to sing, forage and nest.
Like the swallows of San Capistrano, many follow a schedule that will
bring them back within the same week
every year. Following the approach of Rufuous Hummingbirds
on the on-line bird sites is like waiting for Santa. First spotted on the California border, then
the Willamette Valley, then around Astoria then wow- there’s a bright Rufous male
at my feeder.
3.
Birds are great vocalizers. The soft
murmuring that arises from the mallard flock when I appear with the corn can in
the morning is a lovely sound to start the day.
I wonder what they’re saying about me?
The absolutely mystical sound of a Swainson’s Thrush song echoing
through the summer woods is thrilling.
He sings ‘cordelia’ over and over
on a rising note. Lovely.
4.
Birds will boost your mood. Red-breasted
nuthatches hanging upside down on a pine trunk making their toy horn call brings
a grin every time. An assertive female
mallard chasing off an over-attentive male, her head down and eyes narrowed is
just comical.
5.
Birds are good parents. Watch a
mother woodpecker try to teach her youngster to eat from a suet feeder,
patiently repeating the same action over and over. Or a mother mallard with a brood of ten, she
so carefully watches over them, counting them repeatedly and immediately
herding them to safety at the first whiff of danger.
6.
Birds are the clean-up crew. Who else is
going to eat road kill? Those young
crows who wait to the very last
minute to get out of the way of your car deserve a brake. That’s dinner they’re peeling off the road,
and the clean-up part is a bonus for us.
7.
Birds are efficient. There are ducks designed to
utilize food in every depth of water.
Dipping ducks, like mallards, forage on material in shallow water where
they can tip up and eat away. Other species
of ducks dive somewhat deeper for the next layer, and others to even deeper. Nothing goes to waste. Spilled seed at the feeder disappears fast. Skulking fox sparrows, towhees and juncos dash
out from the protection of the heather and rhododendrons to score every seed.
8.
And finally, birds just are. From what we
call drab brown little sparrows to tropical resplendent quetzals, their beauty
is awesome, in the truest sense of the word.
They make their livings near us, giving
us joy by letting us see them raising their families, nesting, singing, hunting
and finally dying, to become once again, part of our great earth.
What’s not to love?
