15 May, 2009
Backyard Birds Liven your Life
Posted by: admin In: Uncategorized
My first bird watching day was astounding.Oh no. Seagulls directly overhead. That means trouble . When my brother tossed a frisbee at the gulls, I dodged.
I was wearing my Dad’s binoculars on a strap around my neck. Thank goodness I did not know how valuable they were or I would have been a nervous wreck. We lived in the city in New Jersey and once a year we went to the “shore” for Dad’s vacation.
As far as I knew, the birds at the beach were either seagulls, sandpipers or terns. Dad let me use his binoculars even though they were his special prized possession, Leupold binoculars. Dad enjoyed watching the boats in the ocean. My brother took in the female scenery from a distance. (He was young too!I loved the birds at the bay because they were nothing like the ordinary city birds I saw at home.
At home we had house sparrows, robins, starlings, pigeons, crows and once in a while a cardinal in our yard. Because all of these birds were accustomed to people we did not use binoculars at home. Bluejays came to our backyard now and then. Grandma often scolded them for chasing the smaller birds away.
During our Sunday afternoon drives to the country my father would show me buzzards and hawks. Dad pointed out the difference. Buzzards eat dead animals, even humans if they die in the desert. Hawks eat rabbits or mice or voles and other small mammals or even snakes sometimes. Even so, I could not identify these birds. It was Grandma who told me I needed to save my allowance to buy a book to identify birds like bird guides.
The only time we took Dad’s Leupold binoculars with us was when we went to a lake or a beach. On one trip we saw swallows flitting over the water near the cliffs. Mom saw a meadowlark but I was on the wrong side of the car and missed it. Funny. Many years later I saw my first meadowlark. By then I understood the value and importance of both birding guides and those incredible Leupold binoculars.
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