Musings on Darwin's 200th birthday...

The anniversary of Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday seems an appropriate time for me to finally update our blog. In case you haven’t figured it out by now, yes, we are home from Newfoundland (we returned to Bar Harbor at the end of October 2008). Anyway, here is an edited version of one of my recent postings to the Maine-Birds listserve….

The other day I was sitting at my desk in my home office, working on my book, tentatively entitled A Prairie Home Naturalist. Although blue skies beckoned, I diligently remained put. I have strategically placed all of the bird-feeders in our front yard so that they can be observe from my desk. The feeders had been active all morning with the usual suspects: Black-capped Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Common Redpoll, Downy and Hairy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Mourning Doves, Dark-eyed Junco, American Goldfinch, and Pine Siskin. Later that day, when I went out to get the mail, a Brown Creeper was in a dead spruce in the side yard.

I keep a running list of all our “greater” yard birds – that is, birds that have been seen either in our yard, or from our modest 4-acre property. It would take some effort to come up with a precise tally: I could more easily tell you what birds have NOT been in our year than which ones are actually on the list. So, imagine my surprise when movement out of the corner of my eye turned out to be a flock of 12 turkeys! This is DEFINITELY a new yard bird for 285 Knox Road! I only wish 21-month-old Anouk could have been here to see them. She would have said, “Ta too, ta too!” Anouk is learning both English and French, and the Francophone name for turkey is “dinde,” pronounced something like “dah doe.”

Anouk, born April 29, 2007, has become my most regular birding buddy. When she was mere hours old, she and I sat in a chair at the Mount Desert Island hospital, rocking gently back and forth. I was telling her about the birds I was seeing out the window. For her first spring, we routinely awoke with the sun and went for a walk down the Knox Road. I pointed out the various warblers, describing them to her, trying to imitate their songs.

When we were in Newfoundland this past May through October, she always wanted my binoculars, so I taped together two toilet-paper tubes and a lanyard for her. Ever since, when I tell her we are going birding, she goes and gets her “binoculars” and says, “All set.” I have many fond memories of sitting on the ground in Newfoundland, my spotting scope adjusted as low as it would go – which was the perfect height for a 31-inch tall person – and sharing the view with her.

Now, one of her favorite activities is to stand on the living room couch and look out the window at the feeders. When she says, “Dee dee dee,” I know the Black-capped Chickadees are there. “Ang ang” is for the Red-breasted Nuthatch. “Ja ja” tells me the Blue Jays are present. And “Zzzzz” is for the Dark-eyed Juncos. We are working in “Perchickory” for the American Goldfinch, but that is a lot of syllables for a little mouth.

I have been keeping a life-list for her, which I intend to compile for her second birthday. I imagine Anouk is one of few people in Maine with three hummingbirds on her list: Ruby-throated, Calliope, and Green Violetear. She has seen pelagic birds galore, including touching a Dovekie we found on the road in Newfoundland and a Leach’s Storm-Petrel that was stranded on a ferry on The Rock. When I carried the Dovekie back to the ocean, she watched my every move as I released it. And the storm-petrel so captivated her, I think she still remembers it.

She has seen King Eider, Common Murre, gannets plunge-diving, hundreds (maybe thousands) of Sooty Shearwates crowded to shore by a fogbank rolling in. Snow Buntings at Sand Beach were intriguing. Chasing Herring Gulls is always great fun. Cawing back to the crows is a favorite pass-time. And she has been packed up Cadillac Mountain to the hawkwatch. Despite all this, the feisty Black-capped Chickadee is clearly her favorite. “Dee dee dee.”