It was unusually warm for mid-February. Jack and Aspen sat in lawn chairs in the woods behind their house, binoculars to their eyes scanning the woods for the Great Bird Count. It had become a tradition and Aspen came home from school for the afternoon to keep that tradition going. Carolina Wren was scratched across a clipboard in Aspen’s lap where she listed the birds they saw. A few wrens screeched expressing their annoyance at the intrusion, hopping from branch to branch at a safe distance. Other than that it was pretty still. Jack scanned the woods willy-nilly, and then glanced at his sister with the binoculars.
“My what big eyes you have,” Aspen joked.
“The better to see you with sis,” Jack growled. “Hey, there’s a bird. What is it?”
Aspen followed his gaze and saw a Robin hopping on a rotting log. “American Robin- Jack.” She scribbled it on the list. “They are back early. Normally you don’t see them till March or April. This winter has been so strange. I mean we’re sitting here in shorts and it’s February!”
“Global warming sis- it’s real just ask Al Gore,” Jack said without a second thought. Aspen snickered. They had watched a documentary on global warming and Jack seemed to remember everything he saw, well everything outside of school that is.
“American Crow,” Aspen said as the bird landed in a tree near the back of the woods. Its cawing alerted her to its location. Aspen and Jack were trying to be incognito, but the birds were not falling for it. Their house sat on two and a half acres with only a bit of yard wrapped around the house, the rest was woods. They placed their lawn chairs so they were just in the backwoods. They sat so they could look to the right and see the backyard or the left and see the woods. “Blue Jay,” Aspen said watching the bird feeder they stocked with sunflower seeds.
It was fun to watch the squirrels try to reach the feeder. They would crawl up the pole and leap to the feeder, or climb a nearby tree and make a leap of faith and hope they reached it. Jack loved watching them. He would sit at the kitchen window and watch the squirrels perform miraculous feats for sunflowers. Their attempts at squirrel-proofing the feeder just made it more entertaining. Their mom bought a so-called ‘squirrel proof’ feeder and hung it from a nearby tree. Jack watched in amazement that day as the squirrel figured out how to reach from the tree, pull down on the feeder and take some seeds before falling from leaning too far out from the tree. The fall did not deter the squirrel; he went right back for more and continued for almost half an hour before he was full.
“American Gold Finch,” Aspen whispered, nudging Jack’s elbow and nodding in the direction of the small olive-colored bird. “Their coloring gets very muted in the winter but by summer he will be as yellow as a school bus.”
Beep, beep, beep… the timer on Jack’s watch alerted them that their time was up. “So how many birds did we get sis?”
“Three wrens, a robin, crow, blue jay, and goldfinch. That makes seven. Not too bad. I think we saw more last year because of the cold. Remember how many birds were at the feeder over Christmas break?” she asked.
“Oh yeah- a bunch of those red ones. What are they called again?” Jack asked thinking. “Cardinals!”
“That’s right Jack. I am surprised we haven’t seen any Cardinals today. You remember why the male is bright red?” she asked.
Jack jumped up and strutted goofily, “To attract the ladies,” he said laughing.
“I don’t know what that’s going to attract you goofball,” she said jumping up and chasing him. They ran through the woods laughing when suddenly they heard their mother calling. Up to the house, they went Jack, leading the way with Aspen hot on his heels. “What’s up mom?” she asked.
“Hey honey, it’s time for Jack to go to the dentist for his cleaning. Sorry to cut the birding short,” their mother said.
“We’re done anyway. Hey can you put these away?” he said handing Aspen his binoculars.
“Yep, and I’ll go put the chairs back to because I am the responsible one that cleans up!” Aspen joked.
“Yep, and I am the baby that everyone spoils!” Jack said proudly. Their mother just shook her head.
“Come on Jack, let’s get going.”
“SHOTGUN!” he hollered.
Aspen yelled back, “You’re the only one going. You don’t need to call shotgun!” Aspen returned to the backyard to collect the chairs and put them in the shed. It was February after all; they might get bad weather. As she was walking back up to the house she heard a little squeaky crying along the side of the house. Upon investigation, she found a baby squirrel, just a few weeks old by the looks of him.
She was flabbergasted to see a baby this early in the season. As she picked him up she scanned the trees for a nest. There it was, precariously perched amongst the branches about fifty feet up.
She carried the little guy into the house to get a box. It was a warm day so she placed him in a box with some pine needles and dry leaves and left him at the base of the tree. She knew there was a good chance the momma would come for him. She grabbed her cell phone and texted her mother to let them know to check on him when they got back.
Aspen decided to take a detour and stop at the center on her way back to campus. When she arrived Kim and Nicole were organizing yearly records in the office.
“Hey guys,” Aspen said peeking in the office. “I was in the neighborhood and just wanted to drop in and say Hi. How is everything going?”
“Hey, we’re good. It has been a little slow so we thought we would get caught up on paperwork,” Kim said while organizing intake cards before handing them to Nicole to log in to the computer.
“Have you guys picked dates for the Baby Shower yet?” Aspen asked.
“Yep, it’s scheduled for the first weekend of April,” Kim replied.
“Cool, sign me up for Saturday. I just wanted to stop by on my way back to campus. Jack and I were doing the Big Back Yard Bird Count.”
Kim smiled, “See much?”
“Typical day in our yard, nothing new,” Aspen replied. “Well, I just wanted to stop in and find out about the Baby Shower. I need to get back. Nice seeing you guys,” she said.
“Thanks for stopping in, ” Kim said, “see you soon.”
Aspen returned to campus. Later that evening she got a text from Jack, “Operation Squirrel Re-Nest,” followed by thumbs up and a squirrel emoji. This was a relief to Aspen; the last thing she wanted was to be the first person of the new year to bring a baby squirrel to the center.
