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Bird Droppings<br />
Dispatches from the nation’s birdwatching capital… by Seymore Thanu<br />
Watching birds is humanity’s oldest<br />
hobby. Today it is America’s<br />
second most popular outdoor<br />
activity, second only to gardening.<br />
Before our ancestors<br />
vacated the limbs of trees, birds were our<br />
closest neighbors, warning us of danger, leading<br />
us to trees with ripening fruit. When our<br />
ancestors dropped to the ground and edged<br />
out onto the treeless plains of East Africa,<br />
circling vultures led us to the kills made by<br />
large land carnivores and their bounty of brain<br />
boosting marrow. When lions came prowling,<br />
it was the alarm calls of francolins and sand<br />
grouse that sent cognizant members of the<br />
tribe scampering for the nearest escarpment.<br />
These survivors became your ancestors.<br />
Those troop members who ignored the<br />
warning became lion scat. Lion scat doesn’t<br />
breed. In time the prognosticating powers of<br />
birds became integrated into our religions,<br />
lore, even political structures. Birds became<br />
emissaries of our gods who could be interpreted<br />
by augurs (literally, the bird watchers)<br />
who could divine something of godly intentions<br />
by noting the idiosyncrasies of birds.<br />
Silly, you think? Maybe, but those ancient<br />
mariners, the Vikings, took to carrying caged<br />
birds on ships. Once released the anxious<br />
sailors watched the bird. If it circled and<br />
landed back on the ship it meant “no land,”<br />
sail on. If the bird lined out and did not return<br />
the ship traced the course of the bird.<br />
The discovery of the New World was<br />
facilitated by birds when Columbus and his<br />
men saw a great flock of land birds overhead.<br />
Adjusting course to follow the flight of the<br />
birds they made landfall three days later on<br />
the island they christened San Salvidor.<br />
From now until summer, bird watchers<br />
can mark the calendar by the arrival and<br />
departure and behavior of birds, just like<br />
those ancient augurs. Right now, birds are<br />
signaling winter’s end with song. House<br />
Finch, Red-winged Blackbirds, mockingbirds<br />
and American robins are greeting the day<br />
with song, singing rings around their territories.<br />
In a few short weeks Eastern Phoebes<br />
and Louisiana Waterthrush will return from<br />
their wintering grounds to begin the northern<br />
breeding season in Belleplain State Forest.<br />
On St. Patrick’s Day the first Osprey will<br />
arrive, back from South America and on the<br />
first day of Spring you can expect Laughing<br />
Gulls to arrive with their mouths wide open.<br />
On the hunt for French fries? No, crying<br />
to celebrate the new season at the species<br />
breeding stronghold marshes of Cape May.<br />
Late Winter Harvest<br />
FARM-TO-TABLE<br />
DINNERS<br />
at Louisa’s Café<br />
Thaw the cold with a wintertime farm-to-table dinner<br />
experience unlike any other. Set in the warm dining room of<br />
Louisa’s Café, our intimate dinners are a chance to reconnect<br />
with delightful cuisine and with each other.<br />
Learn More & Reserve at<br />
BeachPlumFarmCapeMay.com<br />
140 Stevens Street<br />
West Cape May, NJ 08204<br />
March 7, 2024 EXIT ZERO Page 27
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