By Pauline Tom
Bluebirds take center stage this week.
RonTom got swept away by a full flock of Eastern Bluebirds just overhead on Live Oak near Maple. He came home excited. Who wouldn’t be? Flying jewelry delights eyes and ears.
We can make the assumption that Ron saw and heard a flock of bluebirds flying northward after wintering southward. Bluebirds in Central Texas have no reason to leave the general area of their breeding territory, so most do not “migrate.” Eastern Bluebirds in and around Mountain City have paired up for nesting season.
Some Eastern Bluebirds from states with extremely cold winters fly into South Texas and Mexico.
Bluebirds blew me away a couple weeks ago. In the garage getting sample nests ready for a bluebird presentation, I heard a sweet mellifluous chortle, for the first time this year. Lo and behold, on the whimsical bluebird-shaped nestbox out from the gazebo, there sat a male bluebird. Right when I was preparing to promote managing and enjoying bluebirds, this pair showed up.
This week I learned that new word, mellifluous, through Roy Williams’ “Monday Morning Memo” What better word for the bluebird’s chortle? “sweet-sounding, dulcet, honeyed, mellow, soft, liquid, silvery, soothing, rich, smooth, euphonious, harmonious, tuneful, musical.”
This pair’s nest doubletook me this past week. Cedar? Really? Cedar! “Normally”, bluebirds use grasses or pine needles to construct their nest. This special pair constructed an entire nest with strips of cedar bark, from a short pile of cedar logs next to our dachshund fence.
And, the bluebird nest has little bits of unbleached cotton woven in with the cedar bark. We make bits of cotton available to songbirds. (The dadgum squirrels help themselves.) Chickadees and titmice mound soft materials in their nest cup. This is a special bluebird nest, for certain.
My cool “bluebird” box, painted blue, white, and orange, came from Andrew Troyer’s Bird Paradise in PA. He’s Amish, so most of his products are ordered from a (cool) catalog. 800 872 0103. Don’t expect an Amishman to answer.
Troyer’s legendary Purple Martin products, plastic gourd systems, are now available online. www.gourdnest.com.
My 50th birthday week, I spent time on an Amish farm in Charm OH (after a bluebird conference in Columbus), and learned a great deal about the culture during hour after hour with my new friend, Lydia Raber. When I phone Lydia, I leave a message on an answering machine. Lydia goes to a phone outside her house to return the call. Depending upon the local bishop, some Amish can use some modern conveniences that others cannot. Amish who leave the faith to become Mennonite, still living simple lives, loving Jesus, and serving mankind, have all sorts of modern day conveniences.
When Ron and I attended the wedding of Lydia’s daughter, we were two of only eight “English” with several hundred Amish and Mennonites. We parked our rented open top convertible in with dozens of open black buggies.
Purple Martins have returned to Mountain City.
Sweep some tidbits over my way, please. [email protected] (subject: Tidbit) or (512) 268-5678.
Thanks! Love, Pauline
