I was very excited to open this week’s book, the Refuge, and find that all the chapters have been named after birds. Birding is one of my favorite activities and the opening chapter of the book did not disappoint me in describing this passion. I thought I would share some visuals of these birds Williams names each chapters for. I retrieved all of these pictures from www.enature.com. It is an excellent website for species identification. It also includes the calls for each of these birds if you would enjoy hearing them as well.
I also wanted to address a quote from page 8, “There are those birds you gauge your life by.” This is something I absolutely believe, especially since I have lived here in the Arkansas River Valley. Here we are blessed with being right in the center of the Mississippi Flyway. This is a path followed by countless bird species as they make their trek North and South each year. Each spring I await the day when I see the first of these migratory birds fly into our area. One such bird is the scissor-tail flycatcher. This creature is truly amazing. If you have never noticed them flying near the lake (and ocassionally in the Walmart parking lots) please take the time to notice and enjoy one of our world’s marvels. I saw my first scissor tail for this spring just last week. I have included a couple pictures of the scissor-tail flycatcher as well.
A final note: many of the birds Williams references in her book as visitors and residents in Utah are also present here in Arkansas, including: barn swallows (common), snowy egrets (common), peregrine falcon (rare), california gulls (rare), snow bunting (rare), white pelicans (annual visitors on Lake Dardanelle), killdeer (common), great-horned owl (common, often referred to locally as a “hoot owl”), roadrunner (common).
Enjoy!
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April 9, 2009 at 8:06 pm
Joe Wichmann
This is an awesome posting, Gina! I love the pictures of the birds. While I am not a dedicated birdwatcher (yet) I have a large open feeder near our house and enjoy watching the various species (some local, some passing through) at the feeder. We also leave our clippings on the pasture around our house, so we get a lot of ground-feeders in our yard.
Every once in a while a falcon will swoop down and grab a victim, and we will find a scattering of feathers. This is always sad, but it is nature at work. We probably feed thousands (at least hundreds–it is not easy to recognize individuals) of birds for every one that is lost, and whether we like it or not, predators need to eat, too.
One interesting aspect of feeding the birds is that our many dogs live in peaceful harmony with their feathered friends, and I often see birds feeding on the ground a couple of feet from one of the sleeping dogs.
Thanks for the post.
May 7, 2009 at 10:45 pm
Brandy Lewis
I really enjoyed having a visual of the birds in the book. I think birds are something I take for granted. I love waking up in the morning and hearing the birds outside. I think that the presence of birds can make one feel not alone. Sometimes complete silence is often lonely. I am sure that is not the case for all people, but it is for me. Even when sitting outside alone if the breeze blowing in the trees and the birds chirping I feel like I am in good company and I can relax and enjoy. I never knew we were in the Mississippi flyway; I did not even know what that was until your post. I really do enjoy having the birds around, yet have never taken time to pay attention to the different types. Maybe I should. I do have to say that my favorite bird is one I have never seen, but I have heard. It is a whipporwhil. I don’t even know if that is the correct spelling or proper name for the bird, but as a little girl when my family would go camping or sit outside on the back porch I would listen real hard to hear one. If I did I’d always call back to it. Corny I know, but it was great fun.