Thankful For Birds At My Window

I remember trying to catch house sparrows as a kid on a hot summer day in our back yard.  A few of us had positioned a box upside down with a foot long stick holding the box up on an angle for a bird to crawl under the box to get bread crumbs.  The hope was that once an unsuspecting bird was under the box eating crumbs we would pull the string tied around the stick from our hidden location inside the screened back door.  All I really remember is it was a very hot day and we waited as patiently as any 5 or 6 year old could, which never resulted in us getting a bird, not even close.

For me watching birds is a way to get out of myself and pulled into nature.

There were times when seeing larger birds, such as hawks and eagles would seem to give me hope and encouragement during difficult times in my life.

There was another period when I was able to have feeders on and around my second floor apartment windows on the edge of a stretch of woods.  Birds would visit my feeders that I had never seen before, but are common to Delaware County. They were amusement for me as well as my cat Sunny.  I had no TV in my life at this time. 

The feeders were in my bedroom window.  I would be awakened by birds at the feeders at sunrise.

Chickadees, tufted titmice, house finches, gold finches, nuthatches, red bellied woodpeckers, downy woodpeckers, wrens.  Ground feeders would  include cardinals, juncos in the cold months, morning doves. I probably forgot a few.  But no house sparrows!!!

This hobby of feeding birds began after Sunny came into my life. Since she was to be an indoor cat, I needed a way to keep her amused on some level.  She would watch the birds at the window and then jump at the birds.  Then one day I put a toy mouse on top of the lower window where the latch is on a double hung window, and she jumped at the window then grabbed the toy mouse with her mouth and ran into the other room with her catch.  This new activity was really fun to watch, and no song birds were getting killed.

So this closeness to birds is a joy for me.  I appreciate birds for their ability to pull me into their world away from the craziness of the human world.  Thank you birds!

Written for Thanksgiving Challenge thanks to Debbie Reynolds.