We are by no means amateur Birders in our family and can profess to having little to no-skill in that area. I can't even localize human sound that usually begins with "mommy" in a small enclosed space, so forget about identifying bird sounds and tracking them in a nature hike. But what we lack in skill we make up with enthusiasm and an aspiration to be in harmony with nature.
As Gandhi (nope i am in no way comparing us with him, but bear with me as i might have a point) remarked in his "My experiments with truth" that his opinions might change later, and he was merely recording his experiments in the form of narratives, I too am simply recording some of my experiments in trying to live with nature which I might abandon (i mean the specific experiment, not the goal) anytime. So don't expect a Walden from me, just some random ramblings.
I spent about $30 and bought a bird feeder, a wren nest and some song bird seeds with the intent of attracting birds to our backyard. "What prompted this", you ask. Well we've always been early-morning hikers and despite myself not being endowed with good auditory equipment, the combination of my daughter's auditory and my visual equipment has led us to spot many birds on hikes. Also my 7 year old has been pestering me forever to have a house pet (for which i am not ready), and by some weird coincidence the only magazines I could find in my gym were from Audubon society or the gardening ones which seem to be persuading me to set up a bird haven in my backyard, and so here I am.
Thanks to my resident muscle man, I was able to set up the poles in the backyard, secure them to the trees and last week had everything ready for the birds. Now all we had to do was to wait and watch. What I didn't anticipate is the extreme-enthusiasm (i know, i should have, knowing that's the only kind of enthusiasm she has for these kinds of things) with which my daughter started observing the backyard, so much so she didn't have to be told to wear her glasses! She is desperate to have a wren's nest at our home and thinks she can do it by simply willing it.
At the end of day 1, she decided to get some extra help when she realized her will alone won't do it. So she turned to "praying to mother earth". She had purchased a book called Native American Book of Prayers when she visited Yellowstone last summer and had spent considerable time with it on the potty (not the holiest of places, but certainly a very meditative one for her), so anytime she needed a little help from nature she has been turning to that book and saying a few prayers from there!
I am now happy to report we now have frequent visitors in our backyard, a couple of them checked out the nest, but we are not in escrow yet, just open-house visitors. "It is so hard to tell girl sparrows from boy sparrows" was her observation yesterday after she spent 10 minutes trying to egg one of the birds to find a mate - her way of setting them up by simply cheering from the background; when for "no apparent reason" they suddenly fought with each other ("They both had to be boys of course" was her conclusion). So yes, we are waiting and she hopes March will bring luck to the wren nest.
For now, we are happy to have "sparrows" and I call them that as I am currently clueless about the birds, some have a red breast, one was yellow, and there is constant chatter of birds throughout the day. Looks like I do need a North American Bird Book, and here is an app that I will gladly pay money for, but once again the resident computer vision expert reminds me object recognition is extremely hard.... ok, ok... so get cracking :)
Anyways, the raised bed is re-established, we've planted a few bulbs this time, the hummingbird feeder is back on, and the bird seed feeder is being used round the clock and the wren nest is waiting. So yes, we are ready for spring and after the cold spell this season I don't mind reciting a few prayers from the Native American Book myself so we can have a splendid spring and a nice summer!
As Gandhi (nope i am in no way comparing us with him, but bear with me as i might have a point) remarked in his "My experiments with truth" that his opinions might change later, and he was merely recording his experiments in the form of narratives, I too am simply recording some of my experiments in trying to live with nature which I might abandon (i mean the specific experiment, not the goal) anytime. So don't expect a Walden from me, just some random ramblings.
I spent about $30 and bought a bird feeder, a wren nest and some song bird seeds with the intent of attracting birds to our backyard. "What prompted this", you ask. Well we've always been early-morning hikers and despite myself not being endowed with good auditory equipment, the combination of my daughter's auditory and my visual equipment has led us to spot many birds on hikes. Also my 7 year old has been pestering me forever to have a house pet (for which i am not ready), and by some weird coincidence the only magazines I could find in my gym were from Audubon society or the gardening ones which seem to be persuading me to set up a bird haven in my backyard, and so here I am.
Thanks to my resident muscle man, I was able to set up the poles in the backyard, secure them to the trees and last week had everything ready for the birds. Now all we had to do was to wait and watch. What I didn't anticipate is the extreme-enthusiasm (i know, i should have, knowing that's the only kind of enthusiasm she has for these kinds of things) with which my daughter started observing the backyard, so much so she didn't have to be told to wear her glasses! She is desperate to have a wren's nest at our home and thinks she can do it by simply willing it.
At the end of day 1, she decided to get some extra help when she realized her will alone won't do it. So she turned to "praying to mother earth". She had purchased a book called Native American Book of Prayers when she visited Yellowstone last summer and had spent considerable time with it on the potty (not the holiest of places, but certainly a very meditative one for her), so anytime she needed a little help from nature she has been turning to that book and saying a few prayers from there!
I am now happy to report we now have frequent visitors in our backyard, a couple of them checked out the nest, but we are not in escrow yet, just open-house visitors. "It is so hard to tell girl sparrows from boy sparrows" was her observation yesterday after she spent 10 minutes trying to egg one of the birds to find a mate - her way of setting them up by simply cheering from the background; when for "no apparent reason" they suddenly fought with each other ("They both had to be boys of course" was her conclusion). So yes, we are waiting and she hopes March will bring luck to the wren nest.
For now, we are happy to have "sparrows" and I call them that as I am currently clueless about the birds, some have a red breast, one was yellow, and there is constant chatter of birds throughout the day. Looks like I do need a North American Bird Book, and here is an app that I will gladly pay money for, but once again the resident computer vision expert reminds me object recognition is extremely hard.... ok, ok... so get cracking :)
Anyways, the raised bed is re-established, we've planted a few bulbs this time, the hummingbird feeder is back on, and the bird seed feeder is being used round the clock and the wren nest is waiting. So yes, we are ready for spring and after the cold spell this season I don't mind reciting a few prayers from the Native American Book myself so we can have a splendid spring and a nice summer!
