Birds!

Editor’s Note: For now over 75 years, The Baylor Line has been publishing vivid storytelling from across the Baylor Family. I don’t think our archives full of deep, inspirational features should live solely on shelves, so we are bringing them back to life in BL Classics. This November 1980 Classic, June Osborne reflects on her bird-watching activities. 

The day was June 11, 1978. The place — Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens on the coast of California. We had been “birding” all morning in this beautiful setting, and for the longest time one song was heard again and again.

 It sounded almost muffled — as if it were coming from far, far away. The more we heard it, the more determined we were to find the source of this hauntingly beautiful refrain. Then suddenly, in the branches above my head, I saw the eye ring and spotted breast of the bird. Quickly thumbing through the pages of the field guide, I found it — a Swainson’s Thrush. 

The guide read, “Song is a rolling series of rapid flute-like notes, rising up the scale” — a perfect description of a sound none of us will forget for a long, long time.

 Such experiences as these have become a way of life for our family. To us the song and beauty of a bird have soul-restoring qualities that cannot be matched.

One writer estimates that more than twenty million Americans are active bird-watchers who spend literally billions of dollars each year on bird seed, equipment and travel to see birds. The actual number may or may not be this astronomical, but more and more people of all walks of life, of all ages and in all stages of health are becoming enthusiastic birders.

Our youngest son began this hobby when he was four years old. We gave my mother a pair of binoculars and a bird feeder when she was seventy-five years of age and so crippled with arthritis that she could not leave home to observe the birds. Nevertheless, for the last three years of her life, watching from inside her cozy breakfast room, she was as much a birder as we are. 

This is one of the main appeals of bird-watching: anyone can do it, any place, any time, because birds are ever present and highly visible — in our gardens, along our roadways, in the open country, even in congested downtown areas.

It was in March of 1975 that this ever-growing universal sport caught up with us, overtook us and almost consumed us. Jean Schwetman, wife of physics department chairman Dr. Herbert Schwetman, was largely responsible for introducing this new and wonderful world to me, and through my enthusiasm, to my husband, Harold, and our son, Sam. In the early stages of my addiction to this hobby, Jean taught me the basic techniques of bird identification in a continuing education class at McLennan Community College. It was surprising to discover the beauties that had been present all the time— I simply had not known how to look! I took that course four times— not because I kept flunking out, but because of an insatiable appetite for more and more knowledge about these marvelous creatures.

It is relatively easy to attract birds to your yard. All that is needed are the three basic ingredients— food, water and cover. Beginning in early fall, we are now hosts to hundreds of birds, representing fifty or more species, that come to our yard for sustenance. On our relatively small suburban lot in a residential neighborhood, ten to twelve feeders and two birdbaths are maintained all winter.   

Many species of birds are as comfortable eating seeds scattered on the ground as they are perched on the expensive feeders that come in many shapes and forms from hardware stores. Three of the most popular feeding stations in our yard are (1) the sawed-off stump of a tree, (2) a fireplace log lying on its side with a natural cavity where seeds can be placed, and (3) another log standing on its end with a cross section of a tree placed on top of it to make a table for the birds.

I have observed that the commercially packaged seeds found at grocery stores contain many things birds don’t like. They actually cast them aside and pick out only those foods that satisfy their individual tastes. Through a long process of elimination (no pun intended) it was determined by the author of The Backyard Bird Watcher, George H. Harrison, that the four favored foods are sunflower seeds, cracked corn, and red and white millet, all of which can be bought economically at any feed store.

These four items are staples at our feeding stations, in addition to other goodies that most birds seem to relish: suet/peanut butter mixtures, bread crumbs, donuts, cake crumbs (most birds will not accept chocolate cake), bits of pastry, corn bread, and nut meats. Titmice love to hang like acrobats on a string of peanuts and peck at the shells until the meaty morsels are theirs. This can be quite entertaining.

For water, anything from a garbage can lid to an elaborate birdbath with a built-in trickling or dripping effect will do. Of course, birds also love to play in lawn sprinklers on hot summer days.

Birds need “cover” for protection from weather and predators. (If cats cause a problem, a good suggestion is for the owner to place a bell on the cat’s collar to warn birds of its stealthy approach.) Birds also need shelter for a place to rest and raise their young. Existing shrubberies, bushes, trees and flowers, as well as man-made brush piles, roosting boxes and sophisticated bird houses will serve these purposes. Or you may want to select plantings for your backyard habitat that will provide both food and shelter, such as berry- or seed-producing plants. 

Once you have fulfilled these basic requirements, just sit back and watch! You’ll be surprised at how quickly word gets around the bird world — “Hey! Have you heard? There’s a smorgasbord in the Osbornes’ yard! Come join the feast!”

 It is so pleasant to awake to the clear chanting whistle of a Carolina Wren, or the “chip-chip-chipping” of the gloriously beautiful Cardinal as he enjoys a solitary breakfast of sunflower seeds, or the joyous “chick-a-dee-dee-dee” at the windowsill as this funny little clown hammers vigorously at a seed, or even the boisterous yelling of the Blue- jay as he noisily announces his presence and greedily gobbles down six whole peanuts without stopping.

It is a treat to be serenaded day and night by a resident Mockingbird who mimics every song he hears. How entertaining to watch the amusing ritual of bath time for a flock of sleek, crested, black-masked Cedar Wax-wings. They flutter down from the tree-tops like miniature helicopters, and as they crowd around the rim of the bird-bath, they resemble mechanical toy soldiers as they bow and dip by turns for a refreshing drink and bath. This scene could easily be set to music by Walt Disney & Company!

Almost anyone who is motivated can learn to identify birds by studying a field guide. As Jean Schwetman says, “Just do your homework! Study! Study! Study!” My favorite guide is Birds of North America, by Robbins, Brunn, Zim and Singer. It can be purchased at almost any bookstore for less than $5. I like this particular book because of the full-color pictures and the range maps on each page that tell me if I really can be seeing a flock of Black Terns in Waco, or if I’m completely off base in making that assumption.

On the other hand, as Dr. Wally Christian of Baylor’s religion department reminds me, “Birds definitely do not read the field guide,” because occasionally you will see a bird that is totally out of its “range.” For instance, Wally said one day their cat brought in a dead Virginia Rail; so far as we know, this is the only one on record for this part of the country. (You should have put a bell on that cat, Wally!) And one day last spring as Harold and I were birding on a country road near Waco, we saw two playful Bobolinks. These birds are usually found in the extreme northern United States and southern Canada, and only in the eastern and northern regions of Texas. It all boils down to the fact that spotting rare species is mainly a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

I also like Roger Tory Peterson’s bird guides because of his informative texts. By the time you receive this Baylor Line, Peterson’s all new fourth edition of A Field Guide to the Birds will be in bookstores all over the country. As stated in the September, 1980, issue of Audubon, “at 72, the man who turned bird-watching into a super sport has finally compiled the book by which he wants the future to remember him.” After a brief examination of my advance copy of this book, I have decided that it may soon take the place of my well-worn Birds of North America.

In addition to a field guide, binoculars are indispensable to the birder, even for watching from the window, to aid in distinguishing similar species. Through binoculars, colors and markings you never imagined present become strikingly clear. Unexpectedly, you ascertain that all those little brown birds you thought were sparrows are really Pine Siskins with a touch of yellow in their wings and tails. It is exhilarating to verify the identity of a new species and to know that your “homework” paid off. Binoculars and field guide— like the man in the TV commercial with his credit card, “I never leave home without ’em!”

Then comes the fun of listing the birds you observe. This is one of the most common games birders play- recording the species we see wherever we go. I happen to be a fanatical lister. I keep daily lists at my home, trip lists when traveling, one-day lists (our record for one day is eighty-five species, on the Texas coast), field trip lists, and a life list (all those species seen during a lifetime — this being the most sacred of all lists to the birder). The lists go on and on!

The summer of 1978 was my husband’s twenty-year sabbatical from Baylor. During those three months he and I and our son, Sam, traveled 16,300 miles through forty-two states and two provinces of Canada. Our main purpose was to see as many of the birds of North America as possible and to reaffirm the beauty of this great land. Using Roger Tory Peterson’s Dozen Birding Hot Spots, by George H. Harrison, and The National Parks of America, by Stewart L. Udall, as guides, we did just that. We listed over 220 species on that incredibly intense and fascinating journey.

 If “birds of a feather flock together,” certainly their admirers also flock together. The new birder quickly finds a fraternity that soon becomes a warm camaraderie. When we see each other anywhere, it’s not “Hi-how-are-you-how’s-the-family?” It’s “What-new-birds-have-you-seen-lately?” As I was preparing to write this article I listed over fifty in the local Baylor family whom I know to be active bird watchers, and I am certain there are others of whom I am not aware. Not surprisingly, many people in the natural sciences are engaged in this sport. But there are also people from religion, sociology, psychology, oral communications, business, music, English, art and math, to mention a few. Even President McCall and his wife consider themselves at least backyard bird-watchers.

It was largely through the efforts of Lorene Davidson, wife of former biology chairman Dr. Floyd Davidson, that a club called the Waco Ornithological Society was started in the early ’60s, and as an outgrowth of that organization the Central Texas chapter of the National Audubon Society was chartered in 1968. Many from the Baylor family make up the backbone of this chapter. 

Some persons can be casual participants in the pastime of birding. To them it is literally a spectator sport and very satisfying as such. But many of us find it impossible to limit ourselves to that category and are soon very much involved as “resource people” for local educational, civic and social organizations. We become “evangelists for the birds” — recruiting new converts to help support the causes that inevitably come to light, as a direct result of observing the birds.

For example, for many years the Eastern Bluebird has been on the “dangerously declining” list of the Department of the Interior. This beautiful little songster of the open country is making a slow but steady comeback with the help of people like Waco’s “Bluebird Lady,” Yvonne Daniel (att. ’56-57), and Dr. Floyd Davidson, who helps build the nesting boxes that Yvonne and others place in strategic locations. Such involvement provides a sense of real usefulness.

Our initial awakening to the beauty of birds was very exciting. Now, with time and experience, it is still exciting. In the words of Roger Tory Peterson, “Birds, not rooted to the earth, are among the most eloquent expressions of life. Their return each spring means renewal, confirming the continuity of life.” Each spring we wait for the arrival of the Painted Buntings, our favorite of all birds. We are sad in late summer when they leave.