“If Happy Little Bluebirds Fly…”

I always wanted to fly. Not on a jet, or in a plane, but literally fly. I don’t like flying on commercial airlines. So much is out of my control. I would settle for attaching wings to my arms or something like that. But I think it’s more about the freedom of being on my own and defying gravity.

I used to dream I was flying, maybe 50 feet off the ground. Typically, it was over meadows surrounded by trees. Always Summer, always green. Not over farm fields, but surely could be in rural Iowa, over tall grasses, swaying in the breeze. Often, I would wake up when I realized, in my dream, that I couldn’t really fly, and began plummeting to the ground.

Birds have fascinated me for many years. I had several bird feeders in the back yard where we used to live, strategically located outside my office window so I could watch for the rare breeds. In addition to the “normal” species like Sparrows, Chickadees, Finches, and Cardinals, the feeders attracted several kinds of Woodpeckers, as well as Wrens, Warblers, and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks.

But the really rare birds were the most fun. Most were migratory, with only a few days during Spring and Autumn when there was even a chance they would stop for fuel in our back yard. The Indigo Bunting thrilled me in May of 2004 and again in 2006. It looks like a Blue Bird, but larger and with more intense color. The Scarlet Tanager was probably the rarest, most exciting vision of all. It’s brilliant red body and head are punctuated by jet black wings and tail. OMG!

My go to book for identifying species is Birds of Iowa Field Guide by Stan Tekiela. Every colored tab shown above is a different kind of bird I viewed from the comfort of home! The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds, Western Region, is another excellent reference for bird identification – if, of course, you live in the Western Region. It has in depth descriptions, native regions and migratory patterns that accompany the photography.

Here is a list of many of the birds I viewed in Northern Iowa over a decade in the early 2000’s:

• Rose-breasted Grosbeak
• Hairy Woodpecker
• Downy Woodpecker (so difficult to differentiate between the two)
• Red-headed Woodpecker
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Flicker
• Indigo Bunting
• Chestnut-sided Warbler
• Chipping Sparrow
• Purple Finch
• Gold Finch
• White-throated Sparrow
• White-crowned Sparrow
• Chickadee
• Junco
• Northern Cardinal
• Brown Thrasher
• Gray Catbird
• Baltimore Oriole
• Scarlet Tanager
• Yellow Warbler
• Red-naped Sapsucker
• Bewick’s Wren
• Eastern Wood Pewee

Enjoying free birds continues where I live now. My next door neighbor put out some feeders a few years ago, attracting some of the species I used to see before. They also attract the birds to the bird bath I’ve had in front of the house for many years. I keep it heated in the winter so the “snow birds” can continue to drink and frolic in the water. It works out well. My neighbor gets the mess and I get to watch. I am considering adding safflower and suet feeders at my house to feed the nesting pair of cardinals and attract woodpeckers, of which I have only seen a few.

Pam’s Mother loved Cardinals. She had Cardinal ornaments, jewelry, and photographs. Her children and grandchildren love seeing them in various forms from paper to in the wild. Pam’s brother, Randy, gifted us a Metalbird Cardinal that is spiked to nail into a tree, in honor of their Mother. It is attached to the Birch tree outside the living room window from which I also watch the bird feeders.

One of Pam’s daughters selected a Bluebird urn to keep some of her Mother’s ashes. I liked it so much that I got one for myself. It’s actually called Songbird. It is different in breed from the Cardinal, yet is consistent with lives being associated with, and represented by birds. We think of birds as being free. Probably because they have something many of us wish for – freedom of flight.

“…Why then, oh, why can’t I?”

(Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Wizard of Oz)