Different Views - birds

Different Views Earl Plato
I read it again. It makes sense. Here it is. “Perspective colours our lives as much, if not more than other fundamentals. Keep the same old perspective and our lives devolve to a gray routine. Change our perspective and our lives take on new colour and excitement.” Do you know what I mean? Especially us seniors! Almost all of my life I have done bird watching from the ground. A few weeks ago I gained a new perspective. High up in the canopy of white pines on Our Walk in the Clouds we looked down into a Red-eyed vireo nest. Down from 50 feet in the air! A new and thrilling perspective? I guess so. Don’t get me wrong I will not be climbing too many trees for these unique views of bird nests. However, I can suggest a new setting just for sighting birds that I experienced years ago.
In he east end of Wainfleet Marsh at the north end of Biederman Road is a deer run. Every so often there are hunter platforms spaced used during deer season. This was spring and I climbed up to one platform and there nestled among the row of alders came the songs of birds. No kidding. Ernie can testify. There just a short distance away, 20 feet above the ground, was a RED EYED VIREO looking me in the eye.
Try something different in nature this year. Have a different perspective. Who knows what new outlooks you will experience. Remember it’s a new century. Try a new perspective in your nature endeavours.
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I receive calls about anomalies in the colouring of our birds every so often. Al Spear of Fort Erie recently called to report the sighting of two strangely coloured cardinals. Feeding at his daughter Gail’s bird feeders they both, male and female, were observed and photographed. The conspicuous crests of the birds were non-existent. Their heads were not red for the male or buff for the female but very darkly coloured, A Black-hooded cardinal? They don’t exist. These were cardinals we were assured. We will keep you posted. Be observant in nature.
Remember the White Crow of Pelham? Talking with a fellow nature lover while on a trip up north we discussed albino birds. He was familiar with albino robins and bluebirds that he had seen. Here are two shortened versions from bird observers Mary Clay and Rob Tucker.
Mary glanced outside her kitchen window to see a white robin on her bird bath. “Its breast was the same rusty colour but pale. The rest of its feathers were definitely white. Its legs were a sort of pinkish-orange but its eyes were dark.”
Note: True albinos are missing pigment in the eyes hence the red looking eyes caused by the blood vessels in the retina. This was a partial albino. I have learned that Albinism in robins is fairly common. How many have you seen?
Rob reported a single pair of Eastern bluebirds that produced two albino offspring! He was lucky to photograph the two. “... their plumage was startlingly all white, its eyes like shimmering red marbles.”
Note: Rob’s two birds were true albinos. Out on Fort Erie’s Friendship Trail this morning. Lots of walkers. I am looking for white birds, eh?