I have been pleased to discover that my middle grandson has retained his interest in birdwatching, a pastime that his older brother quickly abandoned. Having worked our way through the larger, easy to identify residents of Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area (raptors, herons, egrets etc.), as well as the common waterfowl, we are now venturing into the less exotic world of songbirds.
On this morning's trip, I decided to concentrate on those that are both colorful and conspicuous. These included indigo buntings, common yellowthroats, American goldfinches and dickcissels, all of which like to sing from an exposed perch and are not especially skittish. Indeed, adding four new species to his life list proved to be quite easy.
Down the line, if his interest holds, we'll eventually get to those tricky grassland sparrows, which, after almost fifty years of birding, I still have trouble identifying. Until then, we'll continue to focus on the easy songbirds (to encourage his enthusiasm and protect my dignity).
