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Published: May 09, 2008 06:00 pm
Bird watching is quiet fun
By JOEL WILSON
For the Daily Times
GLASGOW —
According to a recent survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, there are about one million Kentuckians who enjoy bird watching.
I don’t consider myself a bird watcher. I don’t tramp through the woods with binoculars looking for some rare species. I’m more of a bird enthusiast. I wait ’til they come to me.
I took down my winter feeders a couple of weeks ago but because my better half insists on putting a tree or shrub in every available space — our lawn has become quite a haven for our feathered friends. We have dozens of varieties visit the feeders in the winter from cardinals and jays to juncos and woodpeckers. We like the doves that forage under the feeders.
Since the feeders have come down, I’ve noticed that several cardinals have stayed around. Our resident mocking birds don’t like that. We have a couple of pairs of mocking birds that stay with us year-round. One of them must be pretty old because he’s really cranky. He chases the other birds and this week I saw him after a cardinal. He dive bombs the neighborhood cats and dogs. Our previous schnauzer, Oz, went out on his own and was at the mercy of the mocking birds. I witnessed him losing several tufts of hair off his back. Tug, the dog that owns us now, goes out on a leash and the birds don’t bother him.
Like everyone else, we have lots of robins. One has built a nest right by our deck and we’ve watched the little ones grow and leave the nest.
The federal people who did the Kentucky survey say this is the best time of year to watch birds. Resident birds are nesting and migrating species are coming back north from their winter roosts.
If there is a bird watching society in Glasgow I’m unaware of it. But it’s an inexpensive sport. You might want binoculars but I recommend the naked eye. A bird book comes in handy. I use the Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds (eastern region) to identify birds that come to our feeders. I have binoculars but I rarely use them.
City parks are a good place to go, particularly wooded parks like Weldon and parts of Gorin. Cemeteries that are open to the public are another good place. You can also get tapes of the songs that birds in our area sing. I can easily identify the cardinal now, even when the mocking birds are trying to mimic them. Birds sing most actively around daybreak and there are so many going it’s hard to pick out one particular sound. They begin to slow down around 7 a.m. We have one loud-mouthed mocking bird that likes to sing all night.
Periodically the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife offers bird watching tours at the Salato Center at Frankfort.
I prefer the lazy man’s bird watching techniques. I’ll wait until they come to my yard.
That’s unless I happen to see an eagle while on some lake.
Joel Wilson can be reached by e-mail at afwilson@glasgow-ky.com.
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