woodpecker | Keira's Place

This post by Cher’ley Grogg

My Mom loved birds, she loved everything about them, she loved the vivid or subtle colors, she loved their sounds, she loved their nests, and the little eggs that hatched into little birds. I’m not someone who can tell one bird from another, but I know a few of them when I see them. I want to know more.

I fed my back yard birds this week, and ended up with a few that I had never seen before. These little creatures bought me great pleasure. Several times over the last couple of days I watched them peck away at the food. One day there was 5 brilliant red cardinals and one brown female with the orange bill and orange tuft on top of her head. I had blue jays, blue birds, wrens, a chick-a-dee and a red-headed wood pecker, among many others. I got some photos.

Whippoorwill Bird

Birds make me think of my Mom. When I was little, we’d sit on the front porch and she’d say, “Listen, they’re calling your name-Cher-ley` (accent on ley-kind of high shrilled).” I would listen and I could hear them calling to me. Dad always told me if I put salt on a birds tail I could catch it. My grandma said if children weren’t tucked into bed by dark the Whippoorwill bird would get them. She had a willow tree and when that bird would scream, “Whip you I will”, we’d all (my brothers, cousins, and I) would practically run over each other to get into bed.

From birds I draw inspiration.

In Stamp Out Murder and in my next book that will be coming out later this year Cancel Out Murder, every chapter starts with a description of a stamp, (maybe new, or maybe canceled) that’s worth a lot of money. Many stamps have birds on them. Can you think of a year where a bird was featured on a Stamp? Here’s a link to an Ebay page featuring bird stamps. And these stamps are now worth Eleven Dollars. Not a lot in the Stamp Collecting World, but a $9.00 dollar profit for the collector.

Birds calm my soul, God’s little gifts of joy to me. Is there an animal that has been a part of your growing up years? I lived in the country, so there are more animal tales I can tell about.

Sta mp Out Murder”.