Variety of birds flock to area homes this spring

By Bob Harrington, bharrington@miconews.con

Bob Harrington

John and Phyllis Romine, who live west of Paola, have a bird sanctuary on

their property. John said, “All winter we’ve had four pine siskins and four red-breasted nuthatches. We read an article in Birdscope Magazine about birds seemingly moving their habitat and nesting areas. Of the four red-breasted nuthatches, two are staying, and all four pine siskins have stayed.”

He added the hummingbirds are back, and there has been “a scurry of activity, birds that pass through, and those who usually stay.”

They also have indigo buntings, along with a rose-breasted grosbeak and Baltimore oriole.

“It’s been a week of excitement,” he added.

Romine also sent along colored pictures the grosbeak at their feeders.

I can attest to the wonderful bird migration this spring. The Fishin’ Widow and I have enjoyed the birds in our backyard ranging from rose-breasted grosbeak to indigo buntings, and Baltimore orioles to hummingbirds, along with all the “standard” birds.

The most exciting thing for the Fishin’ Widow has been the flashing color of the Baltimore orioles, the blue buntings and rose-breasted grosbeak.

What appears to be four pairs of Baltimore orioles have been coming to our backyard feeders. They eat the finch food, the hummingbird food, and, to the delight of both of us, an orange we put out Sunday.

I cut the orange in half and put each half in a small sauce dish on the “feeding table.” It didn’t take them long to find the orange halves. Oh, how they gobbled it up. But the surprising thing was, although I think each bird took a turn at the orange, they didn’t eat it up very fast.

I am reluctant to provide oranges for the birds because of the cost and because I like good oranges myself. We have been getting some good-tasting oranges lately and we have been gorging ourselves on them.

The indigo buntings help themselves to the finch food and thistle seed and sip from the hummingbird feeder.

We had an unusually small hummingbird at the feeder Sunday. We weren’t sure that it was a ruby-throated hummingbird, although that is the species most common to this area.

The Calliope hummingbird is “the smallest hummer normally found in U.S. and Canada,” according to my newest “Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America,” but it is not supposed to be in this area. Its range is the extreme northwest part of continental U.S. It is 3.25 inches in length compared to the 3.75-inch length of the ruby-throated.

Whatever it is, it was tiny!

By the way, the latest Peterson Field Guide I have is an advanced copy in honor of the late Roger Tory Peterson, who would have been 100 come Aug. 28. It is still under review before final printing for public distribution. The cover of book is in color, but the copy and pictures are printed in black and white. It is an outstanding book for birdwatchers at all levels. You may want to watch for it when it arrives on book shelves.

While I haven’t been hunting mushrooms seriously, we have enjoyed several messes of the tasty morels given to us by friends. One friend set out two large pans full of fresh, clean morels and said, “Take all you want.” I took what I thought would be two to four messes for the two of us.

The missus cooked all of them at one time. There were hardly any left after one meal!

She got what my father, The Ol’ Timer, would said, “a good scald on them.” Whenever my mother cooked something he liked, his comment was always, “You sure got a good scald on this!”

I think the phrase came from his dipping hogs in boiling water so the hair could be scraped off easily or from dressing poultry that had to be dipped in boiling water to loosen the feathers for picking.

If the feathers or hair came off easily, the Ol’ Timer would say, “I got a good scald on that one!”

You know it can happen. Jim Hornbeck was very proud of a 6.47-pound bass he caught several years ago. So proud he had it mounted. It hangs on the wall at his home in Osawatomie.

His wife, Nancy, is an angler only when the fish are biting, according to Jim. The fish were biting at a private pond on Friday, and a friend, Jim Gilchrist, called Nancy to let her know.

Nancy grabbed her rod and reel and headed to the pond to fish for the fast-biting bluegill. Using worms, she was catching her share when something took the bait that definitely was not a bluegill. She landed a female bass full of eggs estimated to weigh about 8 pounds.

It definitely was much larger than the wall-mounted bass Jim was so proud of. Did she keep it to hang on the wall? No, it was released since it was full of eggs. She also caught a big turtle.

and released it as well.

“If I had been there,” said Jim, “I would have saved the turtle for soup!”

I missed the Miami County Gobbler Getters banquet/auction May 3 at the Paola Eagles Club. Rick Shipman assisted with the event. The crowd was a small but spirited. Philip Rockers of Olathe is in charge of the Gobbler Getters, a chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation. He can be reached by calling (573) 353-9428 or e-mailing philrockers@socket.net.

Cabela customers can offer their support to youth hunting initiatives through the National Rifle Association’s Add-A-Buck program. Customers shopping through any of Cabela’s channels now can add a dollar or more to their purchase with all proceeds benefiting the NRA Youth Hunter Education Challenge.

“Supporting youth participation in hunting and the shooting sports is the responsibility of every hunter, shooter and gun owner,” said Dennis Highby, president and chief executive officer of Cabela’s. “Cabela’s customers now have an easy way to give back through the NRA Add-A-Buck program.”

Bass Pro Shops’ National Go Outdoors event is an attempt to give youths (and adults) the chance to learn about the outdoors. Youths need to get outdoors and learn how to become good stewards of the land and natural resources. When this is done, they feel good about themselves while improving their general health and well-being.

One incentive to get more youngsters to turn off computers and go outdoors is the Bass Pro Video Game Trade-In. For each video game youths or adults take to Bass Pro Shop from Wednesday through May 26, they will receive a 15 percent discount off the regular price of Bass Pro Shops-branded items in fishing, water sports, tents, sleeping bags and footwear.

The video games will be donated to local children’s hospitals through Get Well Gamers, a nonprofit organization. Games with mature themes will be donated to military personnel serving overseas. Games unusable because of their condition will be recycled by an appropriate waste facility.

There is a Bass Pro Shop at Olathe, just off Interstate Highway 35 at 119th Street.

Other exciting events being offered to entice children and adults to go outdoors include canoe and kayak demonstrations, casting contests, rock climbing walls, GPS classes, outdoor skills workshops on boating safety, Dutch oven cooking, outdoor survival training and other events which vary from store to store.

You may find out what the Olathe Bass Pro Shop offers on the Web at www.basspro.com/gooutdoors.