Another Enchanting Encounter

     A comment from a fellow blogger on my last post "Enchanted Encounter"gave me some more writing  topics.

     If you follow my posts you will see that I have a keen interst in birds. I feed birds, watch birds and lead field trips for people to view birds. I've been asked how I came to be so interested in birds. I can remember what started my interest.

    I have commented about being born and raised on an isolated Saskatchewan farm. The opertion was a small mixed farm. We had chickens, pigs and a few milk cows. Somebody always had to go and get the cows from the pasture so that they could be milked. When I was very young, it was my mother's chore to bring in the cows. Sometimes she would have a little toddler and a baby carriage as she could not leave us in the house. 

    One time after she had rounded up the milk cows she asked me if I wanted to see a very pretty bird. She said if I was very, very good and quiet she would show me a beautiful bird. She wouldn't take my little brother as he was too small and might make noise. We walked about 300 meters down the road, through a ditch and some brush and then looked through a barb wire fence. There at my eye level was a mallard drake floating on a small pond. The moment has stayed with me forever. With my 3 year old eyes  picked up the vivid color and the image was indelibly etched in my mind. The duck knew we were there and stopped swimming and eyed us very carefully. We carefully let the brush bend back and quietly left. Mom also explained that the ducks had a nest and there would be baby ducks. I knew about chicken eggs and baby chicks so this made sense.

    Later on my aunt sent us a second hand Taverner's bird book in the paper back edition. This was and still is an excellent bird book. I can remember going through this book by the hour even though I could not read.  It was one of the few books in the house. Today about a third of the old book is still in my brotheer's house which is our original family home.

    So two very important women in my life influenced my interest in birds. A few years ago I asked my aunt if she remembered giving us the book. She could not recall giving us the book. I was able to tell her how the book influenced my life. Unfortunately I was not able to share this story with my Mom as she passed away long before I had time to reflect on how important the incident was in my life.

    So an enchanted encounter led to a life long interest in birds.