“A mixed blessing is that we may have more time on our hands, and are home more. The question is, what do we do with that time?”
These are scary times and a lot of us are worried and feel helpless when we watch the news. I am, too, but I'm also grateful that this is happening during the spring.
New life is emerging all around us. We see plants breaking through the soil. We see insects starting to fly around. And we see birds starting their mating seasons and other birds on their spring migration. It's a grand time to be outside!
A mixed blessing of the Coronavirus is that we may have more time on our hands, and are home more. The question is, what do we do with that time, at our home?
I think it's really important that we give children a love of, and connection to, nature. They will not protect and conserve what they do not love and are not connected to. What better time than spring to give them that connection?
Can you identify 12 of our bird species? Can your children? Even young children can recognize color and size differences, which is a great start to identifying birds.
Here are some birds that are so common in our area that we'll have a lot of opportunities to study them. Binoculars can help, but most of these are right out in front of us and we can easily see them with the naked eye.
1. Northern Cardinals - Our most common bright red bird. Males and females have different coloring, with females being less bright.
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2. American Robin - These guys usually come in a group, and they feed on the ground.
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3. Crow - We actually have two crows in this area, the American Crow and Fish Crow. They can be hard to tell apart by sight, but their calls are very different.
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4. Eastern Bluebird - Males and females differ in color, with the females being pretty drab compared to the beautiful, bright blue males. These guys like to visit feeders, which makes them easy to spot.
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5. Blue Jay - These birds are much larger than the bluebirds, and a different color blue. They also have a cone-shaped crest on their head and they can be quite noisy. Their nickname is "Sentinel of the Forest" because they sound an alarm when predators are near.
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6. American Goldfinch - These tiny beauties visit feeders, too, and love sunflower chips and thistle. The males are a vibrant yellow with black markings and the females are more of a washed-out yellow. Goldfinches change color during the winter, with males and females becoming more of a drab olive color. People mistakenly think they migrate away from here because they're not used to seeing them in their winter coloring.
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7. Mourning Dove - These birds look a little on the chubby side, and are a soft gray. They hang out in trees and on feeders. They're known by their soft cooing sound, which some people think sounds sad.
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8. Carolina Wren - These are adorable little brown birds with a white eyebrow and an upturned, perky little tail. They are huge singers and you would think the sound is coming from a much larger bird. They will build a nest absolutely anywhere - in shoes left outside, on top of a tire, in a mailbox.
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9. Carolina Chickadee - These are small black and white-ish birds with bright black eyes. They're very helpful to beginning birders since they say their name - chickadeedeedee!
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10. Red-bellied woodpecker - These are pretty big and very vocal. It's easy to spot them once you know their call. Their red head is a lot easier to see than their red belly.
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11. Black vulture - Large birds who are sometimes called Mother Nature's cleanup crew. Some people mistakenly call these buzzards, but we don't have buzzards in the US. These birds are awkward on the ground but soar gracefully in the air.
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12. Barred owl - This is the most common own in our area and there are a lot of them around! The best way to make sure you're identifying them correctly is to listen for them. Their call sounds like they're saying, "Who cooks for YOU? Who cooks for YOU? Who? Who?"
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And there you have it - twelve birds that you can easily see around Matthews, many in your very own backyard!
Enjoy spring! Go get a dose of nature!