Eastern Phoebe & Audubon, Boulder County
Tom Wilberding
Hello birders,
Reports of an Eastern Phoebe at the 75th
Street bridge, Heatherwood Trailhead area, brings to mind John James Audubon.
From Garrison Keillor’s “Writer’s Almanac” April 26, 2015:
“Today is the
birthday of the man who once wrote, 'I feel I am strange
to all but the birds of America': ornithologist and artist John James Audubon.....Fascinated by all the new American birds he saw, he began to study them more
closely. He found some Eastern Phoebes nesting in a cave. He had read that they
returned to the same spot to nest every year, and he wanted to test that idea.
For days, he sat in the cave with them and read a book, until they were used to
him and let him approach. He tied string to their legs to identify them, and
sure enough, the next year the same birds were back in the cave. It is the
first known incident of banding birds.”
I don’t think John James Audubon ever visited what became Colorado, but he’s
remembered everywhere in North America. A late happy birthday to him!
Tom Wilberding
Boulder, CO