birds of a feather

 My spouse and I just finished watching a fascinating documentary about humming birds and that got me thinking about birds I have known.  Currently we have some regulars visiting our bird feeders every day - Mr. and Mrs. House Finch and one big Blue Jay are our most faithful, but from time to time a variety of sparrows pop in to see what we have to offer.  We have an excellent view of them from our breakfast nook. 

Many, many years ago, when I was just a child, my mother had a pet parakeet (bright green but not very talkative).  I don't know anyone who has parakeets now but I think they were popular in the 50s.  Needless to say we did not have any house cats at that time.  

Our most memorable bird encounters happened when we lived on our rural three acres in southeastern Ohio. There was a large tree across the road that ran in front of our house that attracted starlings.  They would come by droves in the morning and evening and sit in that tree complaining loudly about their rough lives.  These were not brilliant birds.  Approximately once every two weeks one would find its way under the mesh cap on our fireplace chimney and fall down the chimney.  Since the damper was always closed unless we actually had a fire going, they were trapped.  They couldn't spread their wings enough to fly up and out.  My first husband, a wonder spouse in his own right, invented a birdie elevator by twisting two wire coat hangers together and tying a rope to the hooks.  When a bird fell down the chimney (we could always hear them flapping around) he would climb onto the roof over the family room, which was easily accessible from our bedroom window, take the cap off the fireplace and lower the birdie elevator into the chimney.  Every time, the bird would grab the hanger with its claws, hold on as it was pulled up and out upside down, then fly away, free as a bird one might say.  

Toward the end of our years in Ohio, my then husband had taken a new job back in Fort Wayne and was only home on weekends.  So, if a bird fell down the chimney it was my job to get it out.  

On one embarrassingly memorable morning my children (ages 10 and 12) were already out front waiting for the school bus when I realized there was a bird in the chimney.  I climbed out onto the roof and was lowering the birdie elevator down the chimney just as the bus arrived.  I understand from later reports that most of the kids on the bus were quite impressed by the show I put on, while my two were, of course, mortified.  "Mother, how could you?" was what I heard when they got home.