This is for I and the Bird…
Birds have always been a source of endless fascination for me. I had parakeets when I was in high school and spent hours photographing them and watching them fly in circles around my bedroom.
For awhile my dad was breeding canaries and finches and so no matter where I went in the house, there were birds. I suppose my love of watching birds was inherited from him.
Every place I’ve lived I set up a bird feeder and have spent hours happily watching the birds come to the feeder and doing what they do. We had a purple martin house at our old home, and I used to love sitting on the porch watching the flying lessons every spring. I always felt a little sad each July when they left.
So what’s so interesting about birds? I think it’s the wildness. There’s something about seeing wild animals that makes me just stop and stare, that reminds me that as far away from nature as I sometimes feel, it’s still there. Birds – beautiful, funny, graceful – are the wild animals that most of us see most frequently and so watching birds is something of a way to reconnect with nature without leaving our cities or even, for that matter, our homes.
Whenever I see birds while I have my camera on me as I did on our recent trip to Lake Tahoe, I always try to photograph them simply because they’re so hard to shoot. A good bird picture is an accomplishment. I don’t know how good these are, but I’m happy to have shared a space with these birds for a few moments as our separate journeys brought us all together for a few fleeting moments.
A seagull flying over Lake Tahoe (taken in Tahoe City, CA):
Canadian Geese at the Tahoe City Commons:
A Stellar’s Jay at Sugar Pine Point State Park on Lake Tahoe in California:
Birds are transitory creatures. They’re here for a while and then they move on. Whenever I see a bird, I wonder where it’s been, what it’s seen.
I get jealous.
James Brush is a teacher and writer who lives in Austin, TX. He tries to get outside as much as possible.
this is very interesting, b/c you really don’t hear ppl. talking about loving birds or having birds in their house…
the house bird seems like something that was more popular in decades past.
i like your last line about wondering where they’ve been, etc.
Have you ever seen the documentary “Winger Migration?”
–RC of strangeculture.blogspot.com
RC, The birds in my house were actually in decades past and now I only know one person who has a bird. As to the topic, it was a theme topic for I and the Bird a carnival for bird bloggers that I sometimes submit my occasional bird posts to. I’ll have to check out the documentary. I hadn’t heard of it.
I believe RC ment “Winged Migration”. It was a movie out about 2 years ago. It’s a must see.
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I think birds fascinate me for a lot of the same reasons…