Singing with the Birds--by Andrew Eves

This is the story Andrew entered in Reflections. I thought it was pretty good for a six year old. I typed this pretty much verbatim as he told it to me.

The first time I went bird watching, I didn’t know what to expect. I was both excited and nervous. We drove to a place where there was a path with lots of trees. It was called Rock Canyon.

At first there were lots of sparrows, then there was a few Red-tailed Hawks who were looking for a meal.  After a few minutes, there were 20 robins perched on a tree near the rocky path when I walked down the path with my mom. 

I looked up and saw something. I didn’t know what it was. It was colorful and it had a black mask over its eyes.

I asked my mom what it was.

She looked in her bird guide and said, “It’s an American Kestrel.” Then she said, “A kestrel is a type of falcon that is small. It’s a bird of prey. It is a fast diver. It eats insects and small birds.”

The kestrel swooped suddenly. It startled me. And then I saw what it was after, and why it had dived. It was chasing after a wounded Mourning Dove. The dove wasn’t able to fly very well. Then the kestrel swooped down and caught it.

It was so amazing, I could hardly believe my eyes. There were more kestrels swooping around after more small birds. And then I saw that they were all grouping together to eat their catch. Then I realized that that’s what bird watching was about. It was about seeing the beauty of nature, and seeing how other animals keep nature alive. It was so fun.

Me and my mom went bird-watching a lot. I’m going to tell you a little story about one of my favorite bird-watching trips. We drove along the road in Provo and I was looking out the window when I saw this huge group of sparrows near a green pasture eating seeds and insects. There were some grasshoppers and ants that they were eating. There were sunflower seeds, too. 

Later, we stopped by this big post, near a dead-end street. There were lots of rocks and some campers. 

I was looking up at the sky, watching some pigeons do a little dance and then they suddenly got startled. I wondered what startled them. Then they began to dance again and again they got startled. That’s when I saw it. 

A red-tailed hawk.

And then I looked up again and saw another one. Then I realized they were a pair. I thought they were catching food for a baby chick that was covered in fuzz. And then, a few of the pigeons got caught. Then the hawks flew off.

That is the story of how I went bird watching. It was so magical. Maybe you should go out and explore nature too.

The End