Of Sparrows and Buntings

When I was growing up, my Grandpa would point out birds that would come to his feeders and tell me about them. As far as I know, Grandpa has always been an avid student and lover of birds. It's always been fun to watch him because as soon as he steps outside, you can tell his ears are perked for whatever chirps or tunes may come floating through the air. Because he grew up on a farm in Kansas where life was rough and there was little room for unnecessary sentimentality, Grandpa has never had any qualms about telling how it is. So, regarding birds, his shared knowledge is what I've had implanted into my head from a young age.

I learned that sparrows, grackles, starlings, blue jays and other birds like these are junk birds. They really have no other purpose in life but to make havoc and destroy things. These are "bad", messy, mean birds that will rip out the nests of good birds and might as well be shot.

A bird that has a sweet tune is a monogamous bird that will remain faithful to it's mate until it dies. These "good" birds are usually colorful, are not far from their mate, are good parents to their young, and should be protected. One of Grandpa's favorites are bluebirds, which he builds houses for and keeps watch over as they nest and raise their young.

Something else you should know about my Grandpa is that he is a teller of stories. I have on countless occasions sat laughing over a bowl of popcorn at the dinner table late into the evening as he retold crazy encounters he'd had during his time as a mobile home repair man, or stories about life in Kansas and growing up on the farm. I have never tired of them, even though more recently I've heard some stories told over again, or been able to detect when there might be a tad bit of exaggeration involved.

Concerning birds, Grandpa has always said: "THE most beautiful bird in all of North America is the Painted Bunting." As a child I thought this to be a stretched story because he described it as having all the colors of the rainbow on it's feathers. He would go on and on about it's incredible beauty and then sigh to tell me he's always wanted to see one, but that they're shy and hard to spot. Having heard about this mysterious, beautiful bird for years, the painted bunting has held somewhat of a "Big Foot" legendary status in my mind.

Not long after Andrew and I had moved into our new home, he put up a really neat bird feeder he'd made in college. It holds a lot of seed and soon began attracting black-capped chickadees, cardinals, goldfinch, cedar wax-wings, and of course the token junk birds, sparrows. We had countless hours of entertainment watching cardinals (we counting up to 14 one time!) feast at the feeder during snow days this past winter. When things warmed up and I'd been away to visit family, I returned to discover that Andrew had built a new feeder and a bird house he'd affixed to a tree in our backyard. He'd been teasing me about some of the birds I'd identified, and decided to build a house for a Titmouse if not only because it's name made him laugh. *You can imagine the look on his face the day I announced in all seriousness that we'd had a titmouse visit the feeder. lol (Boys!)

Alas, the titmouse house was not to be inhabited by the intended bird. Andrew thought I was terribly cruel when I announced that sparrows had begun to build a nest and that it must immediately be ripped out. He teased me many times about how God made all creatures and how He even cares about the sparrow. Yes, yes, I knew that, but greater than "His eye is on the sparrow" was the voice of my Grandfather saying "Sparrows are junk birds. Rip out their nests if they build in your birdhouse."

AHH...what to do?

For the record, Andrew did offer to rip out the nest, but I relented when one day I tapped the box and heard little peeping sounds. Drat. Not only have they nested, but they laid eggs that have hatched! At that point we figured we'd let the sparrows finish raising their brood. No big deal. I called the bird-hotline (Grandpa) to find out how long it might be before the babies would fledge and we could make way for new, "good" tenants. His calculations were right on the money, but his information came with a warning that sparrows are territorial and would scare all the "good" birds off.

Since the sparrow family moved in I had noticed all of our prettier friends drop in attendance at our feeders. Great. Just great. Our backyard is now known to the song birds as the ghetto where the sparrows hang out. It would seem that every time I looked out at the feeder, all in attendance were on the "Junk Birds of America" most wanted list. Would we EVER be able to redeem our feeders for the good birds? And what's that? Oh lovely...the sparrow family is back for round 2 in the bird house???? Great.

Dear friends, after weeks of seeing nothing but drab brown bits gobbling down our seed, imagine my complete and utter shock when yesterday I peered out the window to see not brown, but a rainbow of color at our feeder! YES!

A PAINTED BUNTING!!!!!!!

I gasped and looked again. My eyes weren't playing tricks on me! Sure enough, there at the feeder was THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BIRD IN ALL OF NORTH AMERICA! It had colors of red, blue, yellow and green...just like Grandpa had said all those years ago. It quite literally took my breath away. I managed to muster enough courage and dared to walk away for a second to grab my camera in hopes of having proof that I did indeed see this majestic bird. This was my Big Foot after all. Who would believe me?

I snapped a few shaky pictures and soon a hideous blue jay landed like a B-52 bomber on the feeder, scaring my gorgeous discovery away. (I hate blue jays.) With the bunting gone, there was only one thing left to do. Call Grandpa. He gasped when I told him and I once again heard "That is THE most beautiful bird in all of North America." I delighted in telling him my very own bird sighting story and as dinner needed to be prepared, we were soon off the phone.

I went about my work with a strange level of excitement I haven't known in a while. It was thrilling to have something so long awaited checked off my mental bucket list. Content with my discovery I once again glanced out the window to relive the moment...only to see that the bunting was back! Ladies and gentlemen, the bunting returned several times yesterday AND I've already seen him once this morning! He knows where to find the goodies so I have a new determination that our feeder will never run out.

God delights our hearts in many ways and having this gorgeous creature deciding to frequent our feeder gives me hope that our backyard bird-club may be redeemed! Move over sparrows, a painted bunting is in the house! :)