My Life’s Birds: #183-184

May 4, 1994 – Christian Co, Mo – May comes, and with the rush of new birds nearly every day. I remember that first spring, when the first thing I’d do upon returning home after school was to grab my binoculars and head out to the backyard to see if I could find anything new before dinner. Sometimes, though, I didn’t have to go to the birds, they came to me. I’ve written about the birds that used to come to the feeders at the old Linden house in the winter when the variety was most impressive, but we fed year round, and that often produced some surprises.

I remember peeking out through the big plate glass window at the front feeder, the busiest one, one afternoon to find a Rose-breasted Grosbeak staring back at me, before he resumed consuming sunflower seeds like there was no tomorrow. Few birds have made such an impact in that first experience as the gaudy, larger-than-life grosbeak. it’s really an incredible bird, as most of you who find them every year surely know. It was only the beginning, over the next few days that one bird was joined by nearly a dozen more, both males and the smartly patterned females. The cleaned us out of seed, but it was well worth it.

Nothing gets the blood up like a new bird, certainly one as flashy as a Grosbeak, so after the Grosbeak left I grabbed my bins and hit the woods behind the house ready for anything. It wasn’t too long before I found a newly arrived and avidly singing Ovenbird, making up for any lack in plumage with stridency of song. Both birds are relatively common and expected spring migrants over the eastern United States,and I’ve seen them every year since that I’ve been actively birding. That doesn’t take away anything from that first experience, however, and I was supremely fortunate to have one that was so memorable.

RBGR from wikipedia