Barb Diehl sent me a nice story from her friend Jim, in Wisconsin, about an amusing "bird prank" his dad pulled on him.



That reminded me of a story of my own about Dad's and Bird's.



I am just one of those kids that was born a naturalist, and never stopped. I find the phrase "self- taught" sort of amusing. How can anyone living in a society, no matter how shy, pretend that they've learned anything all alone. Even the shy to near speechless can go to the Library as a bird ignoramus and perch on the broad feathered shoulders of our predecessors of bird lore, by reading a book, or at least looking at the pictures. Same with learning about Art, math, writing and all sorts of stuff. Anyhow , at a pretty early age, I had investigated birds quite a bit, largely on my own initiative.



But just before that, back somewhere in the land of Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, my Dad took me and my sister on a very serious expedition: to find the mysterious Thunderbird Eggs! It was a pretty big deal. Dad drove us way out in the country at night, from home in West Seattle. It was a long, long way, and winter, and cold. Along the way Dad fed us some great totally believable cornball story about Thunderbird Eggs. Pretty rare don't you know!



Anyway, the thing was, Dad worked as a truck driver, and in the machine shop, came across some giant ball-bearings off a big machine of some sort - about the size of a golf-ball, and therefore very heavy. Yes, Thunderbird eggs are very heavy.



So Dad had planted several of these 'eggs' along some railroad tracks earlier, and incredibly, me and my sister found them, with a flashlight out in the dark. Can you believe it! Thunderbird Eggs!



I am lucky to have been introduced to nature via many family clam digs, fishing, and camping trips and all, which I can thank my parents for. I was the one who started investigating nature a bit farther, learning my birds, and all, and gradually my folks got more interested too. The kid becomes the teacher, sometimes.



But Dad taught us about Thunderbird Eggs. I forget some of the details.



Jeff Gibson

Everett Wa