Nevertheless, I do follow the Missouri Bird List-Serve just to hear what birds are out there, to keep apprised of migration patterns, to learn more about birds, and to live vicariously through reading the adventures of the many experienced birders in Missouri.
Yesterday morning a request was posted on the list-serve. A gentleman from Canada would be in St Louis Thursday and Friday and he wanted to see a Eurasian Tree Sparrow (ETS). The ETS was introduced to St Louis in the late 1800's by European migrants. Unlike other introduced species, specifically the House Sparrow and European Starling, they bred here but never expanded very far out of the St Louis area. So any birder looking to add the ETS to their life list must visit St Louis.
Well, I have about a half dozen European Tree Sparrows everyday at my feeder during the lunch hour. I thought there would be a number of experienced birders offer to show him the bird, but what the heck, I'll offer an invitation myself. So I emailed him with the time I see the bird and a general idea of where I live. If that would be convenient, please email or phone me. It wasn't an hour later that the gentleman, Jim Coutts, called me. Thursday (today) he had a meeting until about noon but then he could have his driver bring him to my house at 12:30. Perfect, we had it arranged.
DRIVER???? Who is this Jim Coutts? Well of course I'm off to Google right away. Wikipedia has an entry on him. To summarize, Mr. Coutts was the top advisor (Principal Secretary) to Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau from 1975 to 1981. Previously he had been an advisor to PM Lester Pearson. After he left politics, he was the founder, President and CEO of an investment capital firm. Other web entries pertaining to Mr. Coutts show that he is currently on the Board of Directors of the Nature Conservancy of Canada.
OMG, this powerful man will be visiting my modest home to look at a bird. The pressure is on. I get home that night and clean the main rooms, mop floors, and meticulously clean the sliding glass doors that open to the patio and bird feeders. Don't need any cat paw prints to diminish the view!
The next morning at work he calls me for assurance that the ETS is still around. Yes, I saw them yesterday. So he confirmed that he would be at my house at 12:30. He arrives in a tasteful limousine and the impeccably dressed driver opens the doors for Jim and his colleague Debbie Casey. I invite them in and since there are no birds at the feeder, we take a step outside for a quick look around the area with our binoculars to see if any are in view. No, so I suggest we sit in the kitchen and wait. The ETS is a somewhat timid bird and won't come around humans.
So we're sitting at my kitchen table (in my modest home) making chit chat. I tell Jim & Debbie that the usual routine is that I walk into the kitchen and my reflection shoos the birds away. After 5 or 10 minutes they start to come back to the feeders: first the House Finches, then the Cardinals and MODOs, perhaps a Chickadee or two, and eventually the Eurasian Tree Sparrows are starting to feel less threatened and they return.
"Chit Chat, Chit Chat" for five minutes. No birds at all. Ten more minutes of small talk, no birds. I'm getting very nervous. I swore to him that the ETS is a regular at my feeders! Terrible thoughts go through my head. Maybe the squirrels are being aggressive and keeping the birds away. Maybe there's a hawk out there looking for lunch. Did the neighbor finally decide to fill his feeders and the birds went there? Dang! Where are the birds?
So I tell Jim & Debbie that I'm going to check out the view from different windows in the house; keep looking from the kitchen. And as I'm in a back room, I hear them get excited about a bird at the feeder. I come back in for a look ... it's a House Finch. But that's a good sign. At least a bird is at the feeders.
Sure enough, the finches start coming in one by one. The Mourning Doves arrive. A chickadee. And FINALLY, the Eurasian Tree Sparrow!
[Inaudible] sigh of relief from me! And over the next 15 minutes or so, more and more ETS's arrived. They are a flighty little bird and don't stay very long at a time, but Jim insisted that he got at least one good photograph of an ETS. I do hope that is true.
Here's a picture of the target bird that I took a couple of years ago.
And for the gentleman Jim Coutts, the ETS was Bird #713 to check off on the ABA (American Birding Association) checklist. That is an awesome accomplishment that very few attain. I may be a novice/backyard birdwatcher, but I do know it is an achievement to be proud of. And I'm honored to have played a small part.
Congratulations, Jim.
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1 comment:
Wow, what an exciting story. I think I would have fainted to have had to entertain such a distinguished visitor. I'm so glad the ETS's came through for you and allowed him to add the bird to his list.
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