Earlier this week I shared a song inspired by my new birdie friend who was making a nest in our wreath. Have no fear! Dad relocated the wreath to a quieter spot, and the new family has been seen continuing to build their nest in the new location. This got me thinking about another time when a bird built a nest in the wreath on our door. We didn’t know it though, and accidentally invited the bird inside to play. As I searched for that post, I noticed that Angel Chuck Billy wrote a lot about birds!

There was the time the hawk accidentally flew off with his used poop bag, that we had left on the side of our driveway to retrieve at the end of our walk. Don’t worry, the hawk realized his mistake and dropped the offensive bag in the neighbor’s yard. Oh boy was Chuck Billy embarrassed when he and Dad had to sneak into the yard to retrieve it!

Another time, while also in the driveway, a different hawk accidentally almost dropped his takeout meal of a mouse on Mom! Luckily he missed Mom, and was able to retrieve his dinner after we got her out of there. Mom sure made a fuss! That was during the pandemic when dining in restaurants wasn’t allowed. Poor hawk was just doing carry out like the rest of us.

Oh but then there was the time when a robin friend had very good aim! She pooped on Chuck Billy while he was on neighborhood patrol! Great Nana use to say that was a sign of good luck, but Chuck Billy disagreed. I don’t know. Being able to hit a moving target while in flight makes me think that bird was very lucky! That’s quite an accomplishment!

That wasn’t the only bird to get a little too close for comfort during one of our neighborhood walks. There was the time when we weren’t the only ones on patrol. A turkey vulture was conducting routine civil air patrol duties, and swooped down to get a better look at us. Not sure why Chuck Billy was so grumpy over that? That bird was just keeping our neighborhood safe too, he didn’t mean to surprise us.

Just like we didn’t mean to surprise those wild turkeys who were hanging out in our yard! Again it involved us going on a walk, and when we returned we surprised a flock of turkeys in our backyard. Have you ever seen a turkey fly? They aren’t the most graceful of birds, and one flew smack into our house! She was alright, thankfully.

There was the time though when Chuck Billy witnessed a Murder right outside our window! It wasn’t a real murder like they are always solving on the Hallmark Mystery Channel. It was dozens upon dozens of little black birds who stopped in our trees to rest during their spring migration. Fun fact: two or more black birds flocking together is called a “murder.”

Coincidentally that murder was followed by a “Wake,” when Chuck Billy spotted a flock of turkey vultures in our trees a few days later. And yes, you guessed it, a flock of turkey vultures is called a wake!

Well Chuck Billy spent many a night awake too, thanks to our owl neighbors. They like to stay up all night chatting about the latest gossip. What annoyed Chuck Billy was that they were always asking “Who?” despite him repeatedly barking the answer!

Chuck Billy’s bird posts also included a series where he couldn’t answer the question of “Who?” It involved the mysterious disappearance of a plastic pink flamingo in our yard. And its equally mysterious reappearance over a year later! But I guess Chuck Billy would say that technically it wasn’t a bird because it was plastic. He blamed that wayward flamingo’s disappearance on UFOs, or course.

He also accused our chicken neighbor of being an extraterrestrial, when she defiantly crossed the road to clucked at him on our walk. He couldn’t believe a chicken could be so brazen, but in reality she was just protecting her flock. So I that answers the question once and for all of why did the chicken cross the road!

I guess what I’m getting here on this flight of fancy down memory lane, is that Angel Chuck Billy can add ornithologist to his list of accomplishments! Because in his 10 years of writing this blog he shared a lot of observations on bird behaviors! And that’s just the posts about our neighborhood! He has a lot of posts about birds we met on adventures too!