HTM - Our Feathered Friends

hunted for animal tracks along the path and wherever there were spaces between the underbrush. Garland wanted to identify lizards, and their little sister Olivia hoped to see a butterfly.

"Isn't it wonderful to have some warmer weather?" remarked Mother. Father agreed, "It certainly is. Just take a deep breath of this fresh air!" Garland saw something too big to be a lizard dart out of the bushes, and he exclaimed, "There goes a rabbit!" After traveling a safe distance from the path, the rabbit turned to look at them with its ears pointing straight up. Then with a flash of its cottony tail it disappeared behind a rock.

The path began to follow a gentle downward slope towards the creek, and the next stand of hawthorn bushes was a little further away from it. The surrounding area was mostly clear, with brush and leaves and low plants. The air was still and quiet, with only the crunching of leaves to be heard, and a peaceful atmosphere was everywhere.

Suddenly, a multitude of identical whistling sounds filled the air. The whistles were one note, but repeated, and high-pitched, but not quite shrill. They were not loud, but could easily be heard because there were so many of them. A flock of light brown birds had just landed in a sycamore tree, and some of them were flying down into the hawthorn bushes to devour the leftover berries. They were larger than sparrows, but only slightly larger.

"Look there," Brooke exclaimed, "Those birds have crests!" "Are they some kind of cardinal?" asked Garland. "They have no red on them" Brooke answered. "Those aren't cardinals," Heather agreed, "But they certainly have black masks!"

"I do see some red on those birds" announced Father. "It is on the tips of their wings." Brooke squinted and looked carefully. "I see some yellow on their wings, and a stripe of it across their tails, but no red anywhere."

Mother had opened up the bag she was carrying, and just then she pulled out a pair of binoculars. "Oh, could I please look in those?" Brooke asked excitedly. "I want to take a look, too!" exclaimed Garland. "Can I look?" begged Olivia. "One at a time" said Mother, chuckling, "Which one of you will let the other go first?" "Garland can look first" said Brooke. So Mother handed the binoculars to Garland, and carefully put the strap around his neck.

"Those birds are eating berries!" he announced, "And they are dropping some of them." "The berries they drop will sprout later and become a new set of hawthorn trees" explained Father. "It is interesting to see how nothing is wasted in God's creation." Brooke got the field guide out of his backpack and began to look through it.

"I see the red on their wings!" said Garland. "It is all shiny like bits of candle wax." "Can I see it, too?" Olivia asked. "Give the binoculars to Olivia" Mother said, "Put the strap around her neck, first thing, so that they will not drop and break." Brooke looked up from his field guide. "I found what they are! They are waxwings. There are two kinds of waxwings listed here, the Cedar and the Bohemian."

"What is the difference between them?" asked Heather and Mother both at once. The whole family gathered around Brooke to look in the field guide. "Cedar Waxwings are mostly tan, but the Bohemian is mostly gray, and also has some blue on its wings. These are Cedar Waxwings, then," decided Mother, after looking a minute. Father added, "It looks like Bohemian Waxwings live mostly in Canada, and are only occasionally seen along the Pacific and the northern U.S."

"Could I look in the binoculars now?" Brooke asked. "Yes, you may" said Mother. Olivia handed the binoculars to Mother, who passed them to Brooke. Heather pointed out, "I see some of the waxwings flying out of the tree very fast and then turning right around in midair and flying back to the same spot they came from. I wonder what they are doing?"

Father told her, "They are catching insects in the middle of the air. Cedar Waxwings apparently also eat insects." "I see them eating sycamore balls" Garland added, "So they must eat seeds, too." With his eyes still in the binoculars, Brooke said, "The cedar waxwings have white around the edges of their black masks." He handed the binoculars to Heather.

Mother looked again at the field guide. "Yes, it says here that they travel in flocks throughout the winter and spring, all the way until the nesting season at the end of May. There must be about 50 of them in those trees right now." Suddenly, there was a soft whirring of wings, and the entire flock disappeared as quickly as it had come, and not one bird was left behind.

"Where did they go?" asked Heather, handing the binoculars to Mother. "I don't know," Mother replied, but I do know where we were planning to go!" Mother zipped up her bag, and the family started down the path again. " I see the bridge," Garland announced.

Brooke was still holding the field guide as he walked, and he commented, "The dull gray birds with big white rings around their eyes that were with the flock apparently were the immature birds. The male and female birds look alike, but the immature ones are different." He put the field guide back in his backpack and zipped it up just before he reached the bridge.

"Wasn't it nice to learn about Cedar Waxwings, and to see so many of them at once?" Mother asked. "Yes, it was," said Brooke, "The field guide says that they travel in flocks most of the year, all except when they are nesting, and they nest only in Canada and the Northwestern states. So most of the time people see them in flocks."

Father turned to Garland. "How did we know that the waxwings were there?" "Because of their whistling sounds!" Garland exclaimed. "Here we are!" announced Mother, "This is a good spot for a picnic."

Go to My Printable Order Form

Make checks payable to James or Joy Marie Dunlap

NOT Hidden Treasure or LightHome