My “Spark Bird”… or Lack Thereof
By Rachel Hudson
When I first heard about “spark birds” many years ago, I was very surprised to hear that such a thing existed… for I do not have one. I have been a “birder” since birth; birds (and animals in general) were the first things I was drawn to as a baby, and I never lost that passion. (See tiny 2-year-old me gleefully petting one of my grandma’s baby chickens, and later trying to get closer to their neighbors’ adult chicken and turkey.)
I was able to read chapter books by age 3, and my very supportive family gave me many, many books about birds and all the other creatures that inhabit the Earth. I still have my first two bird-specific books, which I likely received somewhere between my 3rd and 5th birthdays. I adored them both, spending hours carefully learning all I could from them. The white Nature Club book features birds from all over the world, and describes much about their biology and characteristics. The small blue Golden Guide was my first field guide, originally published in 1949 and revised in 1987, with which I dutifully identified all the birds at my family’s very active feeders in Texas. Though some of the information in it is dated now, the pictures in it are beautiful, and it has detailed information in the back of the book regarding each bird’s migration times, clutch size, nest type/location, and food consumed.
Throughout my childhood, my bond with birds grew, from the chickens and Helmeted Guineafowl my dad and I started raising as free-range pets when I was 8 years old, to the wild American and Fish Crows I learned to communicate with in my preteen years, to the Eastern Phoebes who always sang and nested in the eaves by my bedroom window year after year… Birds have never not been a part of my life, and I hope I can continue to share my life with them in whatever ways I can.
This concludes the wonderful Spark Birds series created by Stevie Morris, with thoughtful and inspiring input from many of our “sparked” BHAS birders. We hope you all enjoyed reading these nostalgic stories, and perhaps you learned some new things along the way!
