Subject: [Tweeters] The birds introduce themselves
Date: Sep 30 09:16:00 2005
From: Rob Sandelin - floriferous at msn.com


There are times when nature encounters seem like magic. I had agreed as a
fund raiser for charity to do a nature walk in a local park. My little group
was mostly toddler ages, 2-4 with 1 wise guy 6 year old. We walked through
Al Borlin Park in Monroe in discovery mode. I had convinced the kids to
"walk like a coyote" so we would be quieter, and about 30 seconds into our
being quiet we started getting the local birds introducing themselves. A
song sparrow hopped out very close to this group of 9 quiet monkeys and hung
around for a good minute while we all admired his sleek brown stripes. Then,
as if not to be outdone, a flock of bushtits a few steps later danced around
in a low bush in full view and only a few feet away. At this point the kids
are all over this coyote walk thing and in the next 15 minutes we had more
close encounters with Spotted Towhees, a Black-capped chickadee and the
first Varied Thrush of the fall. The chickadee was especially engaging and
the three toddlers all walked back to the cars singing his little, dee dee
dee dee song. All these birds came within 2-3 feet of the group and it was
absolutely magical for the kids and the adults. As we got back to the
parking lot one of the adults comemented how nice it was that I had arranged
for all the birds to introduce themselves. As the car doors closed the
toddlers were still going dee dee dee dee. A bit later I ran into one of
the group at the local Wild Birds store, they were buying seed, feeders and
bird books. The toddler was still going dee dee dee dee. If I ever have this
kid as a student I'll be able to recognize him by his chickadee song.....

Rob Sandelin
Natualist, Writer, Teacher
Maltby, WA

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