For the Love of Birds

“For someone who doesn't like birds, you
sure have a lot of them around the house,"
said Doug.

 ♥

A few weeks ago I published a blog post telling you how I’m not a fan of birds. I shared some photos I had taken of a dove in our backyard eating sunflower seeds. Sometimes the most fun part of blogging happens when I publish a post that prompts interesting comments with a variety of viewpoints. I loved the comments on that post.

The majority of comments left were in agreement with me. Jacky lives in an area of England where seagulls make messes on her clean laundry, and she mentioned that seagulls have been known to swoop down and take food right out of people’s hands where she lives. Oh my gosh - I would be exactly like Abi and duck to get out of the way.

I knew that my nature loving friend, Audrey would have a different take on birds than me - she loves a pet bird herself. And just like Audrey, Alexa was surprised to learn that there are people, like me, who claim to not like birds at all. While I find the repetitive sounds of birds in our neighborhood as annoying as nails on a chalkboard, Alexa delights in those very songs.

But the comment that really stood out for me was one left by Candace. She lives in central Phoenix - maybe 20 miles from me - in the heart of the city. With her permission I’ve pasted her comment below:

"I love, love, love birds! Here in our CenPho yard, we have tons of hummers, mockingbirds, Harris' Hawks, pigeons, doves, thrashers, sparrows, finches, cowbirds, and pretty little unidentifiable songbirds now and then...a verdin once, some goldfinches. I love to photograph them, ID them online, study them. They seem like pretty little things sent to make the world a prettier place. I think photographing them has made me like them all the more and I would love to have a 400mm lens someday so I could get better shots."

And that’s when it hit me – an ah-ha moment when I read that Candace felt that photographing birds had made her like them even more. I knew what she was saying, because I’d had the same feeling as I photographed that little dove eating our sunflower seeds.

Watching the dove through my lens gave me a different perspective. I remember thinking how nervous she looked, hopping here and there, cautiously approaching the sunflower head to grab a seed snack. She had every reason to be nervous – there are neighborhood cats, a digging dog that doesn’t like to share his backyard, and a bird hater with a camera.

 

But as I photographed her I actually wished that she would stay a little longer – that she’d keep eating seeds until I was satisfied with having just the right shot. I hoped that I’d get a photo that showed the beauty of her feathers, the shape of her long beak, and the cute way she tilted her head to check her surroundings.

 

{totally not a real bird}

Perhaps I misspoke, or I spoke too soon when I said I wasn't a fan of birds. Here’s hoping that our next neighborhood has something other than the loud dog-food-eating mess makers.

I might even set out a bird feeder.
♥