Bird Watching

 At the feeder outside my office window, a dove and cardinal give each other
space.  There is little trust among birds, and neither appreciates how much
I have to pay for bird seed!

There is a platform outside my office window where I feed birds, and therefore watch birds. I hate to admit that, because when I was a kid growing up in the Ozarks, the old-timers whom I idolized in the pool hall mentioned bird-watchers in terms they might use for folks who listened to opera music and drank tea with their little fingers held up.

And don’t get me wrong; I don’t go out in the bushes in short pants with binoculars in search of a ‘truncated whitzel’ or something of that sort. I watch my birds at close range, only a few feet from my office desk. And I note that by and large, smaller birds like the tufted titmice and juncos and goldfinch and chickadees get along fairly well. Even the cardinals have a fairly gentle nature. But smaller birds seem very timid, even around the cardinals. If a cardinal and a junco (snowbird) are eating at the feeder, they both watch each other and stay on opposite sides. I don’t think small birds trust anyone, and you can understand that. It is the way of the world that small creatures are  eaten more often than big creatures.

Male cardinals seem to be buddies, but the hen cardinals get flared up with each other on occasion, and I think that just goes along with being female.  Every now and then in the supermarket, I notice two ladies get to banging their carts together, both after the same bargain. You don’t see men doing that. In the sporting goods section, if there’s just one fishing lure left, we men go out of our way to let the other fellow get it, being patient enough to wait until the new box gets opened. And sure enough, you see the same thing amongst cardinals.

Doves are a peaceful bird with other species, but not so much with each other. You can’t really tell the difference between the males and females, but I see doves sort of get sideways with each other at this bird feeder on occasion. These birds of peace aren’t always peaceful when it comes to the last few sunflower seeds. It could well be that again, it is a female thing, but I can’t say for sure, and wouldn’t want to venture an opinion there without solid scientific evidence.  Still, I can’t see a gentleman dove pecking at some lady dove over something to eat. We men aren’t that way.  Just the other day I opened the door for a lady at the donut shop, and she got in front of me in line and got the very last strawberry turnover. It’s our nature to sacrifice our own preferences for those of women and children.

Bluejays are downright belligerent towards everything, and I get disgusted, watching them come in and try to take over, throwing seeds every which direction. Every now and then I lift up the window and threaten to acquaint a few bluejays with the business end of my BB gun. Nothing ever changes them; you never see a pleasant, considerate bluejay. They just want a few sunflower seeds for themselves and they’ll throw all the other feed out on the ground wastefully to get what they want. Some people are like that, and watching birds makes me realize that you can’t change them with kind words or rehabilitation. They were born bluejays and that’s the way they are.

I have less of a problem with the lone red-bellied woodpecker that eats at this feeder. He is a loner, and he chases every other bird off so he can get some food and leave. He isn’t wasteful and doesn’t use the bad language the bluejays are typical of. He just doesn’t like to be sociable, he wants to be left alone, and he doesn’t give any ground. Why he is called a red-bellied woodpecker I do not know because the only red he has is on the back of his head and neck, he has none on his belly. I guess I understand how out of sorts he might get being called something he isn’t.

I don’t think the grey squirrels are cantankerous or mean tempered. But they are greedy, and birdseed costs too much to feed them. Birds leave the feeder to a squirrel, and so I chase them off. You can see a grey squirrel’s problem, he just thinks of no one but himself, and can’t ever get enough to eat. Truthfully, I have to fight that same compunction. I hate it when the local pizza place is crowded and the salad bowl is empty at the food bar, or someone gets the last piece of thick crusted sausage pizza and all that is left is the thin crusted pepperoni. It is human nature to be darn sure you get a good plateful of pizza and one of those sugar-topped cinnamon strips before they are all gone. I run the squirrels off, but I feel guilty doing it.

It will be nice when spring gets here and everything has plenty to eat and all the birds get along better. I think that when spring gets here, I will be a little easier to get along with too. And I believe, though there is no scientific evidence to prove this, that when the worst of winter is over, the ladies in the supermarket will treat each other a little better than they do now.

Our February-March issue of the Lightnin’ Ridge Magazine is being printed now, and it has some good stories about how to catch fish in February and March.  Jim Spencer wrote about cold weather bass fishing, Monte Burch about walleye fishing and Keith Sutton about catfishing in the pre-spring conditions. I wrote about fishing in February with an Arkansas minister more than thirty years ago who caught a bunch of crappie, fishing down into cedar trees on Tablerock Lake. It was amazing, because he made his own crappie lures out of cut up plastic worms of all colors. His name was Gene Eidson, the preacher at a small church in Harrison, Arkansas. I suspect he may have called upon the Lord’s help in his crappie fishing… and he got it.

I think we should all call upon His help to get some decent weather in February, since it has been awhile since we had that. With a mild February, the river bass fishing can be great, and believe it or not, I have found some good striper fishing with top-water lures in Norfork Lake on a cold moonlit night before February ends.  I’ll talk about that in upcoming February columns, if we aren’t having any blizzards then.

Meanwhile, the place for our grizzled old veteran outdoorsman’s spring swap meet is set. We will have it where we had the fall swap meet, at the big gymnasium of the Brighton Assembly of God Church, 17 miles north of Springfield, just off Highway 13. It is free to the public and there are 40 tables available to anyone who wants to sell outdoor-oriented treasures, like fishing lures, camping gear, art, canned goods, baked goods, and the like. You can even bring canoes or boats to set up out in the parking lot. Someone will win a free fishing trip to Canada before the day is over. Tinker Helseth, the guide and outfitter from Lake of the Woods in Northwest Ontario, will be there in person. Call to reserve a table, or write. See all the details on my website, www.larrydablemontoutdoors.blogspot.com.   The address here is Box 22, Bolivar, Mo.65613 or e-mail lightninridge@windstream.net.  Call 417-777-5227 to reserve one of those tables at the swap meet, they will go fast.