Bird Without Ceasing
It's the Bread that Keeps Nourishing Me
May has been a bundle of busy and ever since we returned from our trip to Northern Ohio, I have been struggling to keep up with the things of life. Work has been exceptionally busy, and I return home in the evenings exhausted and wrung out. I find when life is crowded this way, my spirit feels thin. I tend to get grumpy and shut down a bit. I have been feeling some like the prophet Elijah who collapsed from exhaustion under the broom tree. “I have had enough, Lord…” he said, before falling asleep. I have been feeling a small piece of this kind of drama and keep reminding myself what happened next: he was fed and tended by angels who gave him these clucking words, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” That’s how life has been feeling lately. This journey is too much. I have had enough. And while I do not pray to die as Elijah did, I long for bread from the hands of an angel—to drink wells of living water from a flowing stream.
To listen to this post:
This is when I need the slow lesson of birding more than ever, for this is the bread of angels for me. But there has been little time to plan special outings, so I have been spending stolen moments looking out the back window, enjoying the many fledglings who have made our yard their home. A true birder is always birding, after all, and I cannot keep my eyes from wandering to the trees and bushes, looking for any telltale sign of life. So far, I have seen baby Carolina chickadees, American robins, Northern cardinals, mourning doves, common grackles, European starlings, house finches, bluejays, song sparrows, and Northern mockingbirds. We have also had our share of tiny squirrels and bunnies to delight us with their quick-moving antics. The baby rabbits are the cutest little ones ever and I find myself worrying over their survival more than a healthy person should (I guess). They are so, so small but the springy way they bound off into the bushes is a thing of magic. We have gone through various seasons of many bunnies and few bunnies, based on the population of foxes, feral cats, and coyotes. I think the foxes have moved on, I’m sad to say, and we haven’t seen a coyote in the neighborhood for a while, but unfortunately, we still have a few feral cats that seem to keep coming around. You may know that cats are the number one killer of birds in the US and Canada (probably worldwide?) and as much as I love a kitty, I am always the crazy woman chasing them away. Whenever I hear the alarmed chatter of a parent bird, I run outside to see what is going on. Sometimes there is no discernable problem, but sometimes … there is. It is a problem we haven’t found a solution for yet, except my wild scatter-rants. Our local shelters will not take feral cats, only to put them to sleep, and I cannot reconcile myself to that. They are beautiful creatures too and I wish someone would take them in and love them into tame, care for them in a way they deserve, keep them indoors. It’s safer for them and the birds.
In other news, I am behind on getting my garden in. I usually have this done by Mother’s Day, but our trip to Ohio, uncooperative weather, and a busy few weeks have slowed me down. I have a new metal raised bed I need to assemble to replace one of my old wooden ones that is falling apart. The other day when I started clearing out the leaves to get it ready for the switcheroo, I uncovered a rabbit’s nest. The mama took advantage of our time away to create a birthing room complete with raised sides for protection. What’s a gardener to do? I covered them back up and have stayed away. I was scared my intrusion would frighten the mother away, but my reading tells me she only comes at night so as not to alert predators to the location of her babies.
This world is full of wonders.
I promised you more posts on our trip to Lake Erie, but as time goes on, those sweet days of doing nothing but chasing birds feel more and more like a dream. I still haven’t finished going through all my photographs and have found myself savoring this opportunity to recall our adventures. I’m still sharing some of the photos on notes, too—I cherish that community of bird and nature lovers so. Have you ever met kinder folks?
One thing I do want to do is share the list of species we saw over our week of vacation. As I mentioned last week, we did not see as many different species of warblers as we did on our previous two visits, but there were so many lovely moments it’s hard to complain. Our favorite place to bird on this trip was by far the Metzger Marsh Wildlife Area. We were there when the purple martins arrived in droves and I will never forget the feeling of being carried along on those swooping, swirling wings as they dove with the wind over the water and the trees. We saw a hermit thrush and an ovenbird there, a scarlet tanager, and there I saw my very first black-throated blue. So much magic. The small woodland lot adjacent to the parking lot was a wonderland of migrants. The boardwalk at Magee was rich as well, but a bit more crowded with less diverse species.
But I am rambling a bit, so it is time to share the list. Here we go:
1. American Redstart
2. Prothonotary Warbler
3. Northern Yellow Warbler
4. Black and White W.
5. Yellow-rumped W.
6. Palm W.
7. Black-throated Green W.
8. Cape May W.
9. Blackburnian W.
10. Nashville W.
11. Tennessee W.
12. Ovenbird
13. Chestnut-sided W.
14. Northern Waterthrush
15. Louisiana Waterthrush
16. Black-throated Blue W.
17. Magnolia W.
18. Common Yellowthroated W.
19. Northern Parula
20. Pine W.
21. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
22. Golden-crowned Kinglet
23. Rough-winged Swallow
24. Tree swallow
25. Barn swallow
26. Purple Martin
27. Chimney Swift
28. Common Nighthawk
29. Eastern Whip-poor-will
30. Blue-gray gnatcatcher
31. Eastern Kingbird
32. Great Crested Flycatcher
33. Warbling Vireo
34. Blue-headed V.
35. White-eyed V.
36. Baltimore Orioles
37. Orchard Orioles
38. Red-winged Blackbirds
39. Rusty Blackbird
40. Common Grackle
41. Brown-headed cowbird
42. Gray Catbird
43. Brown Thrasher
44. Northern Mockingbird
45. Eastern Meadowlark
46. Rose-breasted Grosbeak
47. Northern Cardinal
48. Scarlet Tanager
49. Blue Jay
50. American Crow
51. European Starlings
52. House Finch
53. American Goldfinch
54. Tufted Titmouse
55. Carolina Chickadee
56. Black-capped Chickadee
57. Red-breasted Nuthatch
58. White-breasted Nuthatch
59. Carolina Wren
60. House Wren
61. Mourning Dove
62. House sparrow
63. Song Sparrow
64. Swamp Sparrow
65. Chipping Sparrow
66. White-throated Sparrow
67. American Robin
68. Wood Thrush
69. Hermit Thrush
70. Red-headed Woodpecker
71. Red-bellied WP
72. Northern Flicker
73. Pileated WP
74. Downy WP
75. Great Blue Heron
76. Green Heron
77. Great Egret
78. Sandhill Crane
79. Mallard Ducks
80. Trumpeter Swans
81. Common Tern
82. Canada Goose
83. Laughing Gull
84. Ring-billed Gull
85. Kildeer
86. Double-crested Cormorant
87. White Pelican
88. A shit-ton of other gulls
89. Belted Kingfisher
90. Bald Eagle
91. Osprey
92. Red-tailed Hawk
93. Black Vulture
94. Turkey Vulture
95. Red-shouldered Hawk
96. American Kestrel Falcon
I know I’ve missed some, mostly because we don’t know our water birds very well, but there you have it! Thanks for indulging me. I’m not a very good listkeeper, but it was fun to record all the birds we saw on this trip.
OH my WORD!! I cannot believe your bird list and how many birds you know. I have a long way to go! #89 is my favorite. Lol.
My goodness, what a list! I was so excited to see my first American Redstart this week. Such little gems 🖤