From my picture window, I love to watch the birds early in the morning. This morning, for instance, from my not so comfy rocking chair, yet the one I sit in every morning, I see goldfinch, grackle, purple martins, chipper sparrow, hummingbird, oriole, barn swallow, nuthatch, robin, tree swallow, bluebird, and cardinal. And that’s with just a quick glance.

The goldfinch, nuthatch, cardinal and sometimes bluebird will stay all year. The rest come to nest. And then, there are those flocks that just stop by on their migration.

Yesterday, I looked out and recognized a type of blackbird I hadn’t seen before. I looked it up and it was the bobolink! A small flock of about 50 birds, had stopped to refuel. Lucky for them, I don’t poison dandelions, because they eat dandelion seeds. Their bubbly song as they foraged in my yard, was so happy. It was interesting to watch them, because there were a couple of birds I didn’t recognize, that must have been hanging with the flock, traveling along together.

I learned that bobolinks have one of the longest migration flights of any songbird, a whopping 12,500 miles, round trip from South America to North America. Think about that! It amazes me. The oldest female bobolink on record, was 9 years old.

A migrating Bobolink can orient itself with the earth’s magnetic field, thanks to iron oxide in bristles of its nasal cavity and in tissues around the olfactory bulb and nerve. Bobolinks also use the starry night sky to guide their travels.

From All About Birds

And a poem, Robert of Lincoln, written by William Bryant, would be a lovely one to read to your kids today - “Bob-o’-link, bob-o’-link, Spink, spank, spink”

How do you learn about the birds in your yard, or where you travel? Look them up. That’s what I do. I see a bird, I look it up in one of my books, read about it, tell about it, and watch for it. I especially love sharing about our little tree swallows that nest in the spring, and watching the barn swallows never gets dull.

I have 4 resources at home, that I use to identify and learn about birds.

• Merlin app

• Reader’s Digest Book of North American Birds - this book has some of the scientific facts, but is more story-like in it’s bird descriptions, highlighting characteristics and personalities of different birds. It was a gift from my parents.

• Peterson Field Guide to North American Birds - I have a much older edition

• Birds of Nebraska - this is like a pocket guide book and I like how it has color codes on the edge of the pages, so if I’m trying to identify a bird that is mostly grey, I start by flipping to that section.

• and websites, when I want to identify a song or learn more about a specific bird, especially the ones that migrate through Nebraska. Some birds, like the purple martins, have such enthusiastic fans, that they have their own conservation websites. (I am one such fan!)

Those who love watching birds, will understand why I was almost giddy at seeing bobolinks yesterday. We live on the very southern tip of their expected nesting range, so to have them nest here, would be unusual. The hummingbirds generally don’t nest here either. They just stop by to fuel up.

We get a break from the drizzle and wind today, and it’s going to be glorious. Thanks for stopping by. Let me know in the comments if you like watching birds or if they all look the same to you!

Your friend,
Anne Dovel - The Fit Quilter