For The
Birds
Edwin M. Ahrens MD.
T
he group of ten stealthily rounded the bend
on the Riverwalk in Shawnee Park one
cool, clear morning in early May and there
she was. Standing knee deep in the weeds, noted
internist and accomplished birder Dr. Mary Barry
was stalking another colorful spring migrant. We
were on a group outing with the Beckham Bird
Club of Louisville. The group meets monthly at
the Clifton Center with a featured speaker but
offers organized field trips two to three times a week to local and bi-state
birding hot spots for camaraderie and to help sort out the difference
between the Nashville and Connecticut Warbler.
Just as the spring brings a carpet of vernal green grass and pink and
white trees and flowers, it also brings back a kaleidoscope of colorful birds
to further decorate the meadows and forests. The tiny Ruby-Throated
Hummingbird returns from his winter sojourn in South America. Scarlet
Tanagers and Baltimore Orioles once again add musical accompaniment
to the crisp spring mornings. Birders love the spring, particularly April
and May - roughly two billion birds move through the USA in the spring.
And thanks to the seasonal increase in testosterone, the males are often
wildly colorful and are singing to attract a mate.
The same event moves the other direction after breeding in the fall.
Twice as many birds head south beginning in late July and extending
into October. Having molted they are generally not as brightly adorned
and no longer singing but still worth watching. Birding is a year round
pursuit with changes in bird populations with the seasons. This recent
winter saw an invasion of Snowy Owls and Red-necked Grebes from
up north. Each season yields new surprises.
Ruby-Throated Hummingbird
Scarlet Tanager
I became interested in birds as a child when our parents left us at
our grandparents for out of town football weekends. Our grandmother
raised Canaries for show but also had a large breakfast room window
with lots of feeders outside. We learned early on “little bites like the
Chickadee” not realizing the tiny gray and black jewel ate half his weight
in sunflower seeds daily. Our grandmother gave us a life list book to
record our sightings. My first entry was in 1957, a Robin. To the same
book I just added number 692, a Blue-footed Booby spotted off the coast
of California. To those that watched the movie The Big Year where all
three participants saw over 700 birds in one year that may not seem like
a lot. But that’s a lifetime of looking. The movie, by the way is very cute
and quite accurate bird-wise. It gives a good account of the lengths some
birders will go to in pursuit of their feathered friends.
In 1979 while studying internal medicine in Kalamazoo, Michigan, I
met Dr. Mark Whiteside, now an infectious disease specialist in Key West.
We found we had a common interest in birding. We embarked on our
Baltimore Oriole
June 2014
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