Nature Nugget Contest Honorable Mention
A flock of Red-winged Blackbirds rose nosily as I intruded upon their feast. The sparrows dropped from the trees to take their place only to find the feeders emptied. They scattered respectfully away at my approach to the ash tree. The snow about the trunk had become littered in seed shells. The birds saw the feed tin I held and waited anxiously in the branches above me. I pried the lid from the container, and immediately the birds descended again. A few impatient ones even hopped into the seed container. They fluttered about as I refilled the empty feeders. I took a handful of seed myself and replaced the lid. I squatted down, held my hand before me, and waited. It wasn’t long before a Dark-eyed Juncos perched itself on my hand and began to feed.
A second and third followed. When before had I gotten so close to a wild creature? I could feel its tiny feet upon my skin, its cold toes gripping my finger. Desperation had made them bold.
Our nook of East Texas had not experienced such frigid temperatures for decades. At least half a foot of snow, a foreign substance to me and my siblings, covered the ground and all their former food sources.
The birds were starving. In the times between hauling heated water to our elderly neighbor’s livestock, we fed them from our hands. The plainer Dark-eyed Juncos and Vesper Sparrows were the first to take to us. The shyer House Finches required more coaxing.
Harder still were the goldfinches. The cardinals however, were not to be tempted. I once enticed a female within a few feet of me, but when my sibling exited the house to join me she startled and flew to the platform feeder.
The titmice and Carolina Chickadees preferred to eat from the hanging feeders, a homemade affair of an old milk jug hung over the bottom half of a yogurt container. When the cold would eventually drive us inside, the larger, noisy Red-winged Blackbirds would return, forcing the smaller birds from off the feeders. I frequently chilled my hands numb watching them feast from my palm.
They would cock their head up with each bite and watch me through their bright little eyes. They were all pretty birds in their own rights, but I was particularly inclined to the colorful goldfinches. For days the earth remained frozen and formidable. Chance enough for all of us to see the birds. When my younger sisters initially reported they had fed birds from their hand, I hardly believed them. How they coaxed them in at first, I am not certain. I had read before of birds feeding from peoples hands, but never imagined I would have the experience myself.
In the years since then, the experience has not been repeated, even though it still turned cold. But we have yet to receive snow like that again, or temperatures that touch -5°F. A high price to pay to hold a shivering goldfinch in your shivering hand.
