So, I was in third grade, and it was April in Clarinda, a town of 5000
in southwestern Iowa (about 50 miles north of where Richard Rowlett was
in 5th grade at the time! small world.)

My teacher had been doing a "unit" about birds; the usual stuff, not
very interesting. My mom and I were looking into our neighbor's wild
backyard, and we saw a small bird walking/bobbing along. Mom pulled out
the black faux-leather-bound Peterson's, and we found it--an Ovenbird! A
bird that nests on the ground. Incredible. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be
nesting on the ground in front of us; it was just passing through.

Spring migration! We saw Myrtle's and Magnolia Warblers (that's what we
called them then), a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and Scarlet Tanager. We
invited my teacher over to see them all, and she was stunned. She had no
real idea of all the birds you could see, if you looked hard enough, at
the right time.

Farther afield, and now dragging my dad along, we tracked down the
singer of "Drink your tea.a.a.a" to ID our first towhee. The hobby
evolved, with my family becoming known as the bird people of the town.
The year before my dad died at the age of 87, he had a bluebird trail
with more than 60 boxes.

I didn't *do* ducks or shorebirds in Iowa. And I didn't do raptors until
I discovered Freeway, the Ship Canal Peregrine, in early 1992. Now, I'm
with Ruth Taylor--I prefer duck-eating birds!

Thanks for all the fun posts! EB

--
Ellen Oehler Blackstone You can fool too many of the people
Seattle Washington USA too much of the time.
mailto:ellenb at pinpoint.net --James Thurber