Janet's Blog

Last Saturday morning, I went birding with my friend, Vonnie, who is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about all kinds of birds. I've always been excited to watch birds as they flit about from one branch to another, or quibble over a few seeds at a backyard bird feeder, but I can't say that I've ever before gone birding. In the springtime, Vonnie and her parents and kids have been accustomed to taking car trips along Highway 2, between Alliance and Hyannis, just to watch the water birds that frequent the 26 lakes (or ponds, really) that line the road. I wouldn't know how many lakes there are, but Vonnie and her family have counted them. Vonnie's parents aren't healthy enough for birding this year, and her children are grown and scattered across the US and Canada, so she asked if I would like to go with her. Vonnie brought binoculars, and a notebook for recording each type of bird she saw. I brought a telephoto lens for my phone. Vonnie and I had plenty to t...

Doves and pigeons, pigeons and doves: ever since I was a little girl, I’ve noticed them. In my experience, I've found pigeons to be city birds, while doves live in smaller communities or in the country.  Years ago, even centuries ago, people hunted both birds for food. Even now, they are still hunted in some parts of the world.  Over the years, I’ve been acquainted with a few people who hunt doves, and I’ve known some who shoot pigeons because they are considered to be nuisance birds, but I've never known anyone who hunts pigeons to provide food for their families. I’ve enjoyed eating pheasants, quail, and wild turkey, and I’ve suffered through meals of duck and goose, but I’ve never eaten either pigeons (sometimes called squabs) or doves.   In the US, pigeons are not currently a popular food because they can’t be raised commercially in large numbers, making them too expensive to eat. I suspect the same is true for doves. Additionally, even country pigeons are associated...

Last week, I was hiking at the Crane Trust Nature Center near Wood River, just off I-80 at mile marker 305. I know it's too late to see any Sandhill Cranes, but the Crane Trust, with its broad paths and arching footbridges, is still a remarkable place to hike along the Platte River. That cool, blustery day, I was surprised to find myself surrounded by flocks of red-winged blackbirds, flitting around too fast for me to zoom in for a good picture. They seemed to be rather leery of me--or, maybe they were darting after a swarm of insects that I couldn't see. (Flying insects are their preferred source of food.) The day was overcast and dreary, so my camera failed to pick up the red stripes on each bird's wings, but you can trust me when I tell you they were red-winged blackbirds. After all, red-winged blackbirds were the first wild birds I can remember watching. I was probably three or four years old when Mom would load my baby brother and me into our sky blue Ford so we could ...