Recently I attended the Arkansas Literary Festival as one of many invited authors. While in Little Rock, I was also privileged to visit a local elementary school, Rockefeller, where I met with fourth and fifth graders to talk about my book (Of the Wing: The Legend Awakes) and to urge them to celebrate urban birds.
For people who want to organize an event for the purpose of celebrating urban birds, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology provides free kits with posters and information on 16 species of birds common to towns and cities. Of course, there are many more than 16 species of birds making their homes among ours, but a manageable number was chosen for children and adults to begin learning about their feathered neighbors.
I spent a wonderful afternoon at the school with these students sharing my enthusiasm for the birds that each day grace the city sidewalks and streets. For instance, consider the chipper House Sparrow--that brave, bold little bird you so often see dodging cars in the parking lots of fast-food restaurants. Next time you find yourself heading into one of these restaurants, take the time to listen. Do you hear a cheerful cheeping? That would be the pretty House Sparrow. Or you might hear one cheeping down at you from his perch in a drain gutter, like the one I caught in the picture above.
Notice the difference in the coloring of these two males? The bird in the gutter in a non-breeding male, while the fellow on the ground, with his bold black mask, gray cap, and reddish-brown nape is a breeding male. House Sparrows almost seemed to follow me around that day!
Of course I saw many different birds while walking the River Market area of Little Rock, including Northern Mockingbirds, Northern Cardinals, American Robins, House Finches, Starlings, and Mourning Doves ... to name just a few.
Wherever you go, keep your eyes and ears open and suddenly you'll see and hear birds you never did before.
Until next time . . . keep birds in your heart.
Georgia Ann
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