Bird Watchers...who would have thought!!

Maybe with age comes a greater appreciation of some of nature's finest work.  The birds of the world certainly fall into this category.  We've laughed at ourselves and at our recently found fascination with the birds in our backyard and on the roads we travel.  Years ago, we would not have believed anyone who said that we would enjoy looking at birds!

Our interest most certainly began with the annual arrival of "Charlie", the house wren (also known as a jenny wren).  These tiny birds winter in the South and come back every spring to the place where they were born.  They live to be 7 or 8 years old, and our Charlie is most likely the descendant of a long line of "Charlie's" to return each year.

Charlie arrives within a day or two of May 15 every year.  He begins filling one or two of our birdhouses (one, a chicken and the other a cow)
 with twigs, building a nest.  He then begins singing his very distinctive song, wooing a mate whom we have named "Charlotte."  Once Charlotte succumbs to his charms, she inspects the nest and, if she doesn't like it, throws all the twigs out and they begin a new one.  Anything to please her!!

We know the tiny eggs have hatched when we see both Charlie and Charlotte hustling bugs to feed the babies who are voracious.  The two parents are serious bug catchers and can spy a moth flying across the yard and nab it in mid-flight with deadly accuracy!

Only once have we caught sight of the babies.  Generally, when they are ready to fly, they leave either in the wee hours of the morning or in the night and we never see them again.

After the first family is out of the nest, Charlie moves to another birdhouse and begins his wooing all over again.  Generally he and a "Charlotte" raise two families per summer.  I think the Charlotte's are not the same mamma!!  Our Charlie is quite a lothario!

We also have a variety of backyard birds...orioles, cardinals, finches, crows, blue jays and the like.  Charlie is very territorial and clears the yard anytime he feels that others are encroaching.  We've watched him buzz a blue jay, much larger by far, chasing it out of the yard.

While driving, we have lots of chuckles when we see wild turkeys.  They are so strange looking, yet beautiful in their own way. 

We also see herons, sand hill cranes, many types of hawks and, depending on where we are, other birds that are new and amazing.

Once, while walking at Horicon Marsh, we suddenly noticed a big influx of visitors who were incredibly excited because a "sub-tropical cormorant" had been spotted in a tree by the marsh.  Apparently, this was the first sighting of one of these in Wisconsin!  We had seen it, but, not being bird knowledgeable, thought it just a strange interesting bird in a tree.  Chuckle!

In Nebraska, this past March, we got to see the huge migration of sandhill cranes that stop near Grand Island/Kearney for a few weeks to feed before they head further North.  Amazing sight to see the massive groups flying through the air before settling onto water or a field.   Their loud trumpeting call and crazy hopping about are a sight to see.  I approached a little flock in a field near Mequon and got to hear and see their extreme displeasure!!

We are not crazy bird people searching out birds to fill our "bird list" and we don't often view with binoculars.  We just stop, look and appreciate the wonder of these feathered wonders and maybe try to get a good photo. 

We hope to retain our sense of wonder and curiousity and keep finding things to wonder about.