Birds In Your Backyard

Image via Wikipedia

Sometimes, out of the blue, you are hit with a realization or observation that impacts your life in some way, however small.  That moment happened to me a few weeks ago when I noticed a bird doing something we had seen it do many times in the past but this time it was different.

The Significance Of A Bird

Birds are all around us but we usually don’t notice them.  But, every once in a while we catch a glimpse of one and it has some significance to us, for whatever reason.  I thought it would be interesting to write a short post about significant birds we have seen as we see them.  So its fitting that the first bird to make an “impact” on me in my recent incarnation of birdwatcher was  a woodpecker, specifically the Pileated Woodpecker.

Seeing Woody The Woodpecker

For both Pam and I the Pileated Woodpecker reminds us of Woody The Woodpecker, the famous cartoon character that originated in the 1940’s and remained popular through the 60’s and 70’s.  It is a fairly large bird and it is easy to notice, especially as it hops down the trees in your yard.  That’s exactly how I noticed it a few weeks ago.  It was inching its way down one of the Sweet Gum trees in our backyard heading for our suet feeder.  Once it got to within 10 feet or so it made the short flight over to the feeder where it immediately began pecking away at the suet.  What was funny was how the suet was literally flying all over the place as he pecked at it.  I don’t know how much he actually got but it sure was fun watching

Since that Saturday we haven’t seem him again.  I’m sure he’s still around we’re just missing him.  Hopefully he stops by our feeder soon.

Making An Impact

I don’t know what it was about seeing that happen on that particular day.  Over the last two years we’ve lived in this house both of us have seen him do that same thing multiple times.  Maybe it was the way he went about doing what woodpeckers do or maybe I was just more receptive to the nature that is all around us.  Whatever it was, it made an impact on me and I was much more interested in it than the other times.  I guess that’s when the spark went off and I became a birdwatcher again, and the Pileated Woodpecker became the first bird on my life list.

What About You

If you are a birdwatcher, what was your first bird and how did it impact you and motivate you to take up watching birds?  If you aren’t yet a birdwatcher what would it take for you to become one?