Pop would always feed the birds. My mom would put stale bread in a pan and put fat in the pan as well, the birds went nuts for this concoction in the winter time. I found out years later that bread is not good for birds. Seeds are good for birds and suet. Also peanuts are not good for birds they may like it but it really isn't good for them. Seeds and berries are for the song birds. Needless to say when I left the house I became a bird feeder as well.
One day I saw 3 kids near a hawk that was on the ground. The hawk was shrieking so I crossed the apartment parking lot to where they were. The hawk looked at me and then to the kids and back and forth. I could tell he wanted me to ward off the kids. The hawk had a dead rabbit in it's claws. That's why he didn't fly away. I told the kids to stay away from the hawk. Good karma.
I was walking toward my front door for the last time. As I walked down the gravel walkway a huge shadow was displayed across the yard. The shadow was a wingspan of 20 ft. It was the shadow of a turkey vulture whose wing span is 6 to 8 ft. Seeing that shadow pass over me was super awesome. As I neared the front door a small pine snake left in a hurry from my glassed in porch coming down 2 wooden steps. I hadn't seen him since the first day I stepped on to this property which was 5 yrs ago. Deja vue. I put up a bird feeder soon after I moved in. Planted bamboo along the sidewalk and one butterfly bush. The bamboo supported the butterfly bush and it grew to 12 ft in ht. What was neat about this Bush was the hummingbird moths that inhabited that Bush at least 50 of them. Never seen them before. And never since then. There was the 8 inch snake that greeted me the first day and the other living thing were the fish in the stream next to the house. They were 10 inches apart head facing the bank about 12 of them . ...weird. That was the last time I saw them in that formation. The ground was rock hard. Had to bring in truck loads of good soil. I saw the big vulture flying around.. I made a plywood platform for the vulture, I lured him down by placing a chicken leg raw on the platform. Two of the birds came in and one grabbed the leg and flew off with the other in hot pursuit. I then remade the platform to a smaller dimension. That did it. When the vulture landed he would extend his wings straight out and eat the leg on the platform. Way cool. The bird extended his wings to keep the other birds from making a landing next to him. He was able to eat in peace. Toward the end of my 5 yr stay there, I hadn't been feeding the vulture for like 3 or 4 mos . But he flew over me as a thankyou, I guess.
My relationship was coming to an end. I wrote a letter to her and I was heading out the door to mail it at the post office. The quiet voice within says don't mail it. It wasn't a nasty letter. I said no I'm mailing it. Get into the truck off to the post office. About a 1000 ft down the road a bird dives bombs into the grill of my truck. Fine I say, don't want any more birds to die, so I head back home and throw out the letter.
I've seen pictures of bluebirds but never in person. I said spirit I'd like to see one up close before I die. Several months later I do. Early March, early in the morning I go outside and I'm near a small tree, a bluebird alights on a branch. The sunlight does the bird justice,prettiest bird ever. Three weeks later I'm in the hospital with double pneumonia, trying to stay alive. I got to see the bluebird though. A month later I recovered. Soon after I installed a bluebird house. They've come back every yr since.
Last week I asked my father to bring a gallon of birdseed with him when he came down to see me. The first store he was going to stop at for the seed was closed. He headed through a neighboring town and then realized the bridge was out for a year on the south side of town. He was too far along so he continued on to the bridge. Too his surprise the bridge was open. It must of opened just a couple days ago. Bridge out signs were still up. He remembered a supermarket not to far away to get the seed. While in line with the 13. 50 dollar bag of seed, the checkout gal says to him you don't have to pay. The elderly woman ahead of him says anyone who treats the birds deserves a treat themselves. Pop wasn't paying stong attention to what was going on around him, because he still tried to pay. The checkot gal says put your money away the lady ahead of you bought it. A gift from spirit. Thanks.
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