Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Mr. Bluebird On My Shoulder

male bluebird



If you’d mentioned a blue bird to me before the year 2000, I’d have thought you meant a blue jay, a bird I’d always seen plenty of around here. So when, on July 14, 2000, I first spotted the Eastern bluebird from far off, I thought I was seeing things. I’d only been seriously watching birds for 2 or 3 months then. Anyway, I ran for the binoculars, aimed it at a pile of leaf and branch trimmings, and saw a closer image of the very colorful male. He had a bright blue coloring all over, except for his red (chestnut) chest and dirty-white stomach area. A Red, White, and Blue bird! Usually no bigger than a house sparrow, this and the less blue (more blue-brown) female seemed to me to have shown up out of nowhere.

I’d never seen them before, I didn’t even know they existed, much less lived in my area. Don't ask me what I thought people meant when they referred to the "bluebird of happiness". It was a prominent feature in at least one old fable, and I just thought it was part of the fable, utterly fictional! Of course, it turned out they do exist. They range east of here and up the eastern seaboard. West of here I'm told that I would encounter the mountain and the western varieties of bluebird, but I've only seen photos. I don't feel short-shrifted. My bluebirds are prettier than your bluebirds, though! Just kidding.

For more info, go to this Cornell site about the Eastern Bluebird


Cheer up, Jarvis. My oh my, it's a wonderful day (for birds, at least)!
Full lyrics to the Disney song "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah"

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Abandon hope, all ye who enter here! (At least put on your socks and pants.)