The Birds of Serendipity Shore

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06/13/2004

The Birds of Serendipity Shore


It’s not exactly a bird, Kaitlyn, but there nestled comfortably in the depths of my Italian parsley was the prettiest caterpillar I’ve ever seen. I was so excited at the find that I summoned my only spouse who was also fascinated.

It was a bright yellow caterpillar with evenly-spaced black rings over the length of its body. At first I thought it was a monarch butterfly larvae, further investigation and the Internet revealed it to be a black swallowtail butterfly baby.

Some gardeners might take umbrage at a bug eating their herbs but myself was quite proud, Kaitlyn. For not only has the cilantro- indeed all the herbs of my new gardens at Serendipity Shore,-grown quite well, it has met the test of the Mother Swallowtail butterfly. Which, Kaitlyn, thought my parsley patch a fine place to deposit her egg.

I watched the larvae for several days. It grew longer every day and as it chewed on my parsley, its very color turned from bright yellow to an almost neon yellow-green. The larvae is no longer there and she didn’t do too much damage to my cilantro crop. As I understand it, the caterpillar will spin a cocoon somewhere, Kaitlyn, and in due course will emerge as a beautiful black swallowtail butterfly that will flit about my flowers, drink their nectar, and prepare for the fall migration southward.

While I miss the shorebirds of Critter Cove, Kaitlyn, there’s an upside to living in marshy Delaware next to an undeveloped stand of woods. Because a bird I’d never heard, much less seen, before in my life visited my backyard a few weeks ago and I must thank God for designing a Whippoorwill, the only song bird that sings at night.

“Come here,” Billy loudly stage-whispered and waved his hand for me to join him on the back deck. The dogs had just returned from their last exit of the night and Billy had something to show me.

I saw nothing but I did hear a bird singing loudly, very loudly.

“It’s a whippoorwill,” Billy said. “Can you hear it?”

To my surprise, the bird sang the same three notes repeatedly and darn if the syllables didn’t sound like “whippoorwill, whippoorwill, whippoorwill” with the accent on the second syllable.

The moon was full and bright and later research revealed that this is prime whippoorwill singing weather. Some sources said the whippoorwill will often push its young off the nest during the full moon.

Its song was so loud, Kaitlyn, almost as if the bird was right next to me. And beautiful, what a beautiful happy song this bird sings. And at night! I thought these birds were denizens of Arizona or some such. What a thrill to have one in my own Delaware backyard.

Hummingbirds, Kaitlyn, love wooded areas and this is a fact many don’t know. The little birds love flowers so much that one might not associate the source of their nectar with woodland but it is a fact. Thus, here in Serendipity Shore we have, oh I’d guess around a thousand hummingbirds. So far I have put up eight hummingbird feeders, Kaitlyn, and I fear I won’t be able to keep up come August and the month they tank up for the migration to the south.

There is also quite a few catbirds in the woods behind my house, Kaitlyn, and I’ve always loved the twilight song of the catbird. It’s as if the bird were playing some sort of heavenly harp. The notes rise in crescendo, then descend in the opposite order. At the end of their trill there is a crisp note as if celestial cymbals were softly tapped. The most amazing thing, I’ve had several catbirds come to my feeders!

These are elusive birds, Kaitlyn, birds seen only in passing. Yet there they are, enjoying suet from my feeder right outside my sliding glass door! The cat bird is a softly pretty bird, its body a mid-gray with black wing tips and a handsome black cap perched rather jauntily in the middle of its head.

Finally, Kaitlyn, there are plenty of bird babies all about. Billy and I had to quickly shoo a baby robin out of our yard lest big galoot dog get curious and harm the youngster in the investigation. The baby titmouses follow their parents to the seed feeder and as their almost-tame parents have instructed, they grab a seed whether a human is close by or not. Even more amazingly, the little birds fly down to the iron poles I use to mount the feeders and pound the seed open right in front of intrigued human eyes!

Someday, Kaitlyn, I shall introduce you to the birds, hopefully as young as possible and still understand. Because, Kaitlyn, to appreciate the birds will bring a lifetime of joy.

This is not to say that the bird fellows prevent sadness or human disappointment. What they can do, Kaitlyn, is return every spring, sing their songs and join you when invited into the human eco-system. There’s few setbacks in life that can prevent the quick smile at a pretty bird song or quick glance at passing pretty feathers.