By Sherman Shifflett
After a recent article about birds in CvilleBuzz, I started thinking about the birds I saw as a kid and how many of those species have become scarce.
My family left Covesville in 1957, and I don’t think I have seen a Baltimore Oriole since then. I remember a sycamore tree near our bus stop and I used to see the orioles in that tree. Seems to me that they built a hanging nest there. I haven’t seen one in recent years.
I used to see cowbirds all the time in the pasture. Meadowlarks, too. I saw some meadowlarks in the mid-west a few years ago. Another bird we called “Bob Link” (bobolink) was plentiful when I was a kid.
A few years ago a brown thrasher built a nest on my property, but did not return the following year. One and done.
Several years ago I saw a male scarlet tanager, but he was just passing through. I’ve been here 40 years and that’s the only one I’ve seen.
I had towhees around for several years; they hung around the blueberry bushes. When the timber was cut across the road, they moved to the cutover. I have not seen them this year. Nor heard them.
I was worried that the whippoorwills would disappear when they cut the timber, but I still hear them at night. As a kid, I used to lie on my back in the back yard and listen to the whippoorwills. I still love to hear them.
I also don’t see redwing blackbirds much. I think they like ponds and streams. Saw a bunch of them in Minnesota a few years ago. Muskrats too. I see goldfinches, but not on my property and I don’t hear screech owls anymore. It’s been good to see the recovery of bluebirds.
Mockingbirds and catbirds seem to alternate years on my property. The cardinals are here and chickadees.
I saw snowbirds during the winter, but haven’t seen “peewees” (phoebes) this year.
The blue jays and robins are plentiful. Wrens too. I still see a few quail and grouse.
When I went elk hunting in Idaho several years ago, I saw a bird that looked like a blue jay (the body did), but it was a whitish/tan and had a brown head. My outfitter told me what it was, but I forgot. Some type of jay
One day in Idaho a slate-blue hawk flew past me at a high rate of speed, really moving. The outfitter said it was a species of goshawk. He said they were fairly rare. I also saw red squirrels and black squirrels and some spruce grouse. They are large birds. I saw snowshoe hare in Idaho too. I think WVA has those as well.