My Mother, the Bird Lover

​Part 1 – ​My mother is a bird lover. Sorry, this isn’t her! When I was growing up . . . when my kids were little, she was never, ever, a bird lover. What changed?

Five to ten years ago my oldest son gave her a bird feeder for Christmas. It was a nice gift, but I had no idea it would be life-changing.
​
Ever since that Christmas, whenever I stop by, Mom always gives me a bird report. She also links dates and birds. My daughter’s birthday is March 9th. That’s the date when the robins come back.

She gives me reports about hummingbird fights at her feeder. She lets sparrows build nests on her porch light. She even made me google a bird. She wasn’t sure about the spelling, and I was sure there was no such bird. Wrong! I found it . . . the Hoary Redpoll. Really! Mom’s Redpoll looks exactly like the one in the video. Here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Af1vpd2Fk04
​

---

​​This isn’t her window either, but Mom watches the birds from her living room and kitchen windows.

I never see them from mine, but until five years ago, I was teaching. When you teach, there’s no time to look out the window.
​
I still don’t see those birds, unless they knock. At the lake, there’s a Papa Bluebird who tap, tap taps, like he wants to get my attention. I think he’s really warning off his reflection. He’s afraid there’s another boy bluebird in the neighborhood. When I try to take his picture, he flies off. I think he’s camera shy!

---

​
Now mom has two different feeders. My husband puts suet and bird seed in one. It looks like the one on the left. 

The feeder on the right is for hummingbirds. The red liquid is in my refrigerator. My husband warned me not to drink it. Now he’s mixing it up again because the hummingbirds have returned. They usually come back around my birthday, May 7th, and Mother’s Day.

If you’d like to feed the birds, here’s a link. Did you know different birds eat different food? https://www.wildaboutbirds.com/read/attracting-birds/choosing-the-right-bird-food
​
Part 2 - Meet some of the birds who visit my mother . . .  Can you guess their names? Check the captions to see if you’re right! Enjoy a little music while you enjoy a few birds. Good luck!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0adpbKfIp0I

Hummingbird

Robin

Cardinal

Bluebird

House Finch

Chickadee

Woodpecker

Finch

Pair of Sparrows

​​These are the birds that most often appear at my mother’s window. She would recognize them all. I only know their names because I searched them out on https://pixabay.com/. When I see red, it’s a cardinal. Blue is for bluebird, and when I’m in doubt, it’s a bird. 

---

This is John James Audubon in 1826. You might recognize his name – The Audubon Society. His claim to fame – he painted and described all the birds in America. Then he founded an organization that’s alive and well today. Click on the link below, and you can download 435 reproductions of his work. The Link:
https://mymodernmet.com/audubon-free-prints/?fbclid=IwAR1BheBRRgfUrysKsg447cl8PCHs4yf9QGhY6FmNeJqnzJGoAtsOSWa_cZk

---