Backyard Birds Liven your Life

I was astounded the first day I went birdwatching.Oh no. Seagulls directly overhead. That means trouble . While at the beach, my brother teased the gulls with his frisbee.

I was wearing my Dad’s binoculars on a strap around my neck. Thank goodness I did not know how valuable they were or I would have been a nervous wreck. When we lived in New Jersey in the city, we went to the “shore” once a year for Dad’s vacation. 

Most of the birds at the beach were terns, seagulls and sandpipers. Dad let me use his binoculars even though they were his special prized possession, Leupold binoculars. Dad enjoyed watching the boats in the ocean. My brother enjoyed watching the girls from a distance without them knowing about it. (He was young too!The birds at the beach were so cool because they were different from the ones I saw in the city.

At home we had house sparrows, robins, starlings, pigeons, crows and once in a while a cardinal in our yard. Because all of these birds were accustomed to people we did not use binoculars at home. Once in a while I noticed bluejays. Grandma scolded the bluejays for chasing away the little birds.

When we were driving every Sunday afternoon in the country, Dad pointed out some hawks and buzzards in the sky but I did not yet know how to tell them apart. Dad pointed out the difference. Buzzards eat dead animals, even humans if they die in the desert. Hawks eat rabbits and catch them to kill them for a meal. Ah, but i still did not know how to identify them. It was Grandma who told me I needed to save my allowance to buy a book to identify birds like bird guides.

Dad did not often take the Leupold binoculars out for a regular drive. Only when we went to a lake or beach. We saw swallows over the water near the cliffs on one trip. Mom saw a meadowlark but I was on the wrong side of the car and missed it. Funny. Not until years later as an adult did I see my first meadowlark. By then I understood the value and importance of both birding guides and those incredible Leupold binoculars.

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