MY MYSTERY BIRD AT FITZHUGH CEMETERY, LUCAS TX 10-09-2013

While visiting our son Mike in Allen, Texas, Francis and I drove to the nearby Fitzhugh Cemetery in Lucas. My plan was to photograph some of the old headstones since I collect headstone art. Fitzhugh Cemetery was established in the mid 1850s, predating the Civil War, so it's quite historic. I also wanted to see if any birds were around since cemeteries are some of the best places for birds. Unfortunately I had forgotten to bring my binoculars with me for our trip so bird ID'ing was nearly impossible. My camera battery was nearly dead as well. Wow, I was SO unprepared for the day!

Northern Mockingbird. Fitzhugh Cemetery, Lucas TX

One great bird turned out to be a Northern Mockingbird, vocalizing on the branch of a tree at the far end. Unlike Mockingbirds I've heard in Southern Utah, its song was very melodious, warbling and beautiful. I've never heard one sing like that before.

Blue-headed Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. Fitzhugh Cemetery, Lucas, TX

The other bird that caught our attention had a long, long tail, blue head, and orange-washed belly, and was a total mystery. Managed to capture this photo of it before my battery completely gave out. The bird had a graceful, swooping flight when it suddenly took off because I came too close. Did not hear it vocalize. A Scissor-tailed Flycatcher came to mind, but the coloring was so different from anything I was familiar with. On my return it was ID'd by several expert birders as a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, but with this blue color variation. It surely was exquisite!

We also drove past Lavon Lake which was so low that it has almost no water. The only birds to be seen were a large number of Great Egrets and a few DC Cormorants. Saw several Black Vultures circling in the sky. A hawk flew off from the top of a telephone pole that may have been a Red-shouldered Hawk. Lots of enormous spider webs glistened with dew along the sides of the road. A lovely morning for a drive even if it wasn't very birdy.

HOOKED ON BIRDING

 A few days ago I was looking through my bookshelf and ran across my Dad’s well-used copy of the birds of Finland. I was amazed to see a check mark next to every bird, 256 of them, in that little book. He had seen them all! As a young college student my Dad had dreamed of becoming a botanist and naturalist, but was never able to realize this ambition. His love of nature, however, remained with him to his dying day and he passed on his love of the outdoors to my sister and me.

I fondly remember summers as a little girl in Finnish Lapland, skipping happily along next to my Dad in the woods near our home and he paused frequently to point out plants and birds while we walked along. These were precious hours for me. The summers in Lapland were brief, the winters long and often severely cold. Each winter my Dad would make sure the bird feeders in our yard were stocked with seeds. Mother was a nature lover as well, and slabs of pork fat were nailed to a board to keep little bird bodies fueled against the cold. It was always traumatic for me as a child when one of our little feathered friends froze in the cold in spite of Mother and Dad's best efforts to keep them alive.

It is only fitting then that many years later my love for birds was rekindled by a wonderful Finnish friend, Tuula Rose. She had been bird watching for about a year when one cold February morning she finally coaxed me into going birding with her. Years had rolled by and I had totally forgotten my childhood nature lessons. My awareness of local birds started and stopped with ducks, pigeons and robins. That first morning I was introduced to 28 amazing species of birds found right here in our local area: Cinnamon Teal, Widgeon, Marsh Wren, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Gadwall and a soaring Golden Eagle were among the birds I saw for the first time. I was impressed!

A few days later Tuula took me to Camelot Park in south Provo and we tramped through the muddy, snow-covered fields in search of a Great Horned Owl. Tuula knew where to look and she spotted the owl almost right away tucked inside a tangle of branches in a massive tree. It took me nearly ten frustrating minutes to locate the owl through my binoculars. But how rewarding it was when the owl suddenly woke up from its mid-morning nap, and stared right at me with those huge golden eyes. It was one of those amazing “Ahhhh” moments that rarely come along in a lifetime and I was totally hooked! I’ve been birding ever since and my Utah life list is now closing in on 300 birds.

Thanks Dad! Thanks Tuula! Thanks Utah County Birders! My life has been truly enriched.