I’m just like an Ornithologist except without all those years of education.

My aunt and uncle have a little bird oasis there on their ranch. They go through more bird seed than I would have thought possible.

All of their various bird feeders are right outside the large living room windows. In South Texas this is a boon, as no one in their right mind would sit outside to watch the birds.

We watched all the normal characters play across the stage; cardinals, lots of hummingbirds, red–winged blackbirds, cowbirds, blue jays, orioles, woodpeckers, and white winged doves.

It was all very exciting.

Eve is also a bird enthusiast. She loves to watch them and learn about them. On one of the many stops, Angela and I made, I found this little gem. It is a bird book that has great color pictures of birds, but that is not all, it also has a little button you can push to hear the sound the bird makes. How cool is that! It is not a cheap book and I am a cheap person, so I had a dilemma. Do I buy it? It is a $25 book. Can I bring myself to buy a $25 book when chances are good I could get on Amazon cheaper? Turns out, yes I can spend $25 on a book.

As we sat and watched the birds flit buy the windows, we listened to the bird sounds while sitting in air conditioned comfort. It was Glorious.

At one point I was sitting on the chair nearest the window doing nothing. Absolutely nothing, and no one was asking me any questions using the words ‘Mom, can I…’ or ‘Mom, can you…’. I might have mentioned this already, but it was glorious.

So there I am sitting and having complete thoughts, when a very colorful flash landed on the patio. I walked closer to the window to inspect. It was the most beautiful bird I think I have ever seen. It was almost tropical, something you’d expect to see in the Caribbean, not dry South Texas.

Because I am a calm and controlled person, I squealed for Angela and our Aunt to “COME SEE THE BIRD WITH ALL THE PRETTY COLORES!” Of course, because the glass is not quadruple paned, the squealing scared away the pretty bird before Aunt and Angela could get there.

Once I described the bird, my aunt started to squeal. A PAINTED BUNTING! YOU SAW A PAINTED BUNTING! THOSE ARE SO RARE, YOU ARE SO LUCKY TO HAVE SEEN A PAINTED BUNTING!

It seems all the squealing runs in the family.

Later that day my sister said, ‘Hay, that bird looks like a blue jay only green’. (She did not inherit the squealing gene it seems).

My aunt replied, A GREEN JAY! YOU SAW A GREEN JAY! THOSE ARE SO RARE, YOU ARE SO LUCKY TO HAVE SEEN A GREEN JAY!

Apparently Angela and I are like the cat nip of the bird world.

The Painted bunting did come back the next day, but did not cooperator very well for our little photo op. Here is the photo my sister took.

Here is a better photo.

Here is a photo of a Green Jay, the Green Jay never got close enough for us to snap a photo. Perhaps it was all the squealing.