A GOOD FIELD GUIDE - 8/8/20


 A GOOD FIELD GUIDE

BY: PEGGY WILLIAMS AKA Birdie of Mississippi

 

As like most Birdies, I have several field guides to help me to identify birds and find out information about the bird in question.  Some field guides only tell you general information about birds and some give very detailed info about birds.  The one I enjoy using for simple info and easy to identify is Birds of Louisiana and Mississippi by Stan Tekiela.  This field guide narrows down the birds that I am likely to see in my own backyard.  Some of the birds listed are year-round residents and some are migratory birds that can only be seen passing through Mississippi at certain times of the year.  I bought this as my first field guide at Wild Birds Unlimited in Southaven when I first got started being a Birdie.  I have loved it so much that I have recommended it to all my friends and have bought copies for my grands.  My grands pull it out all the time to show me birds that they have visiting in their backyards and to help them identify any newcomers that they might see.

 

When I first bought this guide, I saw that it had a check list of all the birds listed in the book for you to check mark the different birds that you have seen.  Many of the ones that I originally marked were birds that I had been taught about in school and I had half way acknowledged their presence, but didn’t really acknowledge many details about the individual species.  All my knowledge was pretty sketchy to say the least.  But, over the years as I have “Looked at the birds of the air...” Matthew 6:26, I have gained more and more details about the birds that fly all around me on a daily basis.  This past Monday I added to that first marking all the birds that I have now seen and have photographed.  I just love checking off items on a to do list and so marking each of these wonderful birds gave me a thrill! (Am I a geek or what?)  Before I became a Birdie, Dennis was a big duck hunter and after his hunts he would bring home all the ducks that he had shot. He would display them showing me the different types of ducks and explain to me what type of duck they were. They were beautiful and I was amazed at how soft their feathers were. I remember names like Hooded Merganser and Mallard, but now I wish I had paid more attention to what they looked like.  Sometime I would like to go on a duck hunt not to shoot them, but to photograph them and appreciate their individual beauty.

 

As I thumbed through a Birds and Bloom magazine today, I saw in the March issue that they asked the question “What kind of bird would you most like to see?”   This question fit in nicely with my list of birds that I have seen already, but unfortunately the bird that I would most like to see isn’t in my Mississippi field guide.  It is a bird that can only be seen in Australia.  I found out about this bird when I played Bird Bingo with my grands.  This bird is called a Splendid Fairy Wren (yes, it's real!).  The breeding male is just as its name makes you think it to be...very small like a fairy.  It has a long tail and its plumage is quite splendid in different shades of bright blue and black outlines between the different shades of blue.  Since I haven’t photographed it yet, you will have to Google and see just how splendid this little fairy bird is.  But, until I get to travel to Australia, I will continue to “Look at the birds of the air...” Matthew 6:26 right here in my own backyard and continue to add to the long list of precious birds that we have right here in Mississippi! 

My photos may be viewed & “LIKED” on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest - “Birdie of Mississippi.” E-mail: birdieofmississippi@gmail.com Read my Blog @ http://www.birdieofmississippi.blogspot.com

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