A SIMPLE GIFT BEGAN A LOVE AFFAIR WITH BIRDS

White-throated Sparrow in Fraser Fir tree
Photo - courtesy Robert Smith (www.photobiologist.com)

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Many years ago my mother gave me a gift, a little plastic bird feeder and five pounds of commercial bird-seed mix. She hung the feeder from a bare tree just outside my window. 

By that simple act of love, she changed my life.

I think of her so often when the finches come, and I hear the lilt of her voice when White-throated sparrows whistle sweetly on still winter mornings.

And I have wished, over and over, to have her back for just a little while, so she could know how long the gift has lasted.

Oh, the feeder itself had broken into pieces by the following March, but the gift of the birds has been endless.

Christmas is near, and I'm sentimental. I would wish my mother's wisdom on all gift givers. And then I see signs that the wisdom was not hers exclusively.

On Saturday, I helped a grandmother to select bird feeders for each of her grandsons, and I wanted to hug her. If only one of those grandsons comes to appreciate birds, she will have enriched his life immeasurably, and maybe someday, he'll pass it on, with love and wisdom.

Few of us become "bird people" by our own premeditation. It is usually the influence of family, friend or neighbor, sometimes vigorously resisted, that bids us to stop and watch the birds.

And there are many "little" things that we can do to make that happen.

I suggest a bird watcher's starter kit - a feeder, some seed, and a guide book - as the logical first step, and a person is never too young, or too old, for a starter kit. And just think, for a small price you can help someone discover a whole "nuther world"!

There are many low-priced items that can serve to sway a potential bird watcher. A hummingbird feeder, a field guide or two. Some thistle stockings and the seed to fill them. A couple of suet logs. Maine Manna. (See first article of January for hummingbird nectar and bird pudding.) Those darling feeders that adhere to the window and bring birds up close. Bluebird houses. A hundred pounds of oil seed for cardinals and finches. A tube feeder to hold it. A house for an Eastern Screech Owl or Wood Duck. A bird bath. A mister. A dripper. A how-to book for making birdhouses. A Purple Martin apartment house! A trip or donation to a local nature center (Editor's note - 2016: for example, Pascagoula River Audubon Center). Binoculars. Spotting scopes. Photography equipment. A subscription to a birding magazine. (See *footnote about birdsong recordings - our current information source)

Decorate an outside tree with food for the birds; do it with the children or grandchildren and watch their interest percolate! Start a wildflower garden in a small corner of the yard, just for the birds.

One last observation. I think if mother hadn't taken the time to stock and hang that first feeder, it would have gathered dust on a shelf. If you really want to share your own joy of birds, give a little of yourself in whatever gifts you choose.


This article was published in December 1985

*Footnote: In the original version of this piece she also recommended cassette recordings, and video tapes! Nowadays, phone Apps are available (e.g: iBird Pro) as are numerous on-line videos, but it was charming to think about what was available then.

It has to be said that Judy passed on the love of birds to so many Coast birders, who then passed it on to others, and for her gift to us, we are truly thankful.