Bird Watching

Recently Micah reminded me of a date we once had, before we were married.

We were at a beach and going for a walk, when at a distance we saw a group of people standing around...

They had binoculars strapped around their necks, and cameras set in tripods.

They were talking and pointing...

"What are they looking at?" we wondered.

As we walked closer we realized they were bird watching.

 We were young and quite energetic before getting married, so it struck us as boring!

Well, time and age can have a funny effect on you, can't it?

Because while Micah and I reminisced about that walk along the beach, we laughed about how interesting we find birds to be now!

(Like for example, did you know that Cardinals mate for life? You will almost never see one without the other. If I happen to see a female at the feeder, all I have to do is look around for a minute and I'll almost always spot the male in a tree branch close by. They do all their travelings together. Isn't that sweet?!)

Anyway...

In my last post about our family room, I showed you this picture...

It was a goal of mine to create a corner here beneath the windows for activities I've noticed my family enjoys...

Nola's taken a liking to putting puzzles together, Roman likes to sit and draw, and Micah and I love to bird watch.

So Micah refinished this antique table, and made a shelf from a scrap piece of lumber he had in his workshop.

I think it's perfect for keeping a couple of our bird books and our set of binoculars. 

The large book was just given to us recently by my grandma.

It had been in her home for many years.

My mom remembers it from her childhood.

What I love about the book is not only is it filled with beautiful and colorful illustrations...

but it came with a handwritten log of the birds that were seen and when.

It dates back to 1970...

The last entry was in 1996 - an Indigo Bunting was spotted and recorded...

It is interesting to note that right around the exact time this book was given to us, we were experiencing a four-day stretch of time when an Indigo Bunting was visiting our feeders!

So... not wanting the tradition to die, I snatched a piece of notebook paper to begin the next era of bird documentation for our book.

I also made sure to get a picture of him while he was here...

I'm glad I did, because we haven't seen him since! 

(I thought he looked pretty next to the yellow finch.)

What about you?

Do you enjoy bird watching?

Do you keep track of the birds you see in your yard?

I don't know that I would have thought to keep track had I not gotten the idea from my grandparents' log.

I wonder if any of my children will want this book and the generations of handwritten recordings someday...?

I can imagine a third sheet of paper slipped in, with dates like 2039, or something like that!

I guess I should teach them to appreciate it first!

So that when they encounter a group of bird-watchers at the beach someday, they won't laugh and think, how boring!

Well, what do you think? Am I off to a good start?...

Haha...

xo,

~ Courtney ~