“Do you hear that? The Merlin app is saying Northern Flicker?”
My husband’s excited phone call prompted me outside. The snow was fresh, anticipated and unexpectedly beautiful.
The Texas snow called many out but mostly ages 10 and under.
And me.
Oh yes that was a flicker—whose flicker call turned into a cardinal’s.
An American Goldfinch showed off his acrobatic skills, taking every last morsel of seed left inside that sunflower who was no longer sunny.
Killdeer calls, Crow conversations, Junco arguments, Song Sparrow chatter and to my amazing surprise and delight—
Eastern Meadowlarks!
Waddling across the blanketed field.
Flashing their golden chests at me as if to say, “if there’s prairie left, we are there too.”
My heavy and tired and sleep-deprived heart took in the scene of the tiny patch of undeveloped land next to my house.
“Please keep coming back,” I whispered to the birds. “As long as there is prairie left, we will be there too.”
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Laura Schnell is a mother of two, wife to one, and a student of nature. She just became a certified Master Naturalist of the Texas Blackland Prairie Chapter. An amateur birder, she enjoys spending time outside and observing her winged friends and their diverse behaviors. She immigrated to the United States from Colombia at the age of eight. Although she claims the lush tropical country as her home, the Texas prairie has won her heart over.
