Excuse me, is this Venezuela? Because it seems awfully cold for Venezuela.

[note: this was a post I previously shared on NextDoor for my area neighbors]

Ready for a thrill? Ok, maybe not so much a thrill, just something that’s arguably more interesting than watching the snow melt? 

I thought you’d like to see this photo of a rare bird visitor to Bridgewater.

This is a female Dickcissel.  She’s been calling my backyard “home” since mid-February (at least)—which is when I first noticed her sometime after our big snowfall. I was birding from my kitchen window, dutifully counting White-Throated sparrows, when I realized— {curse you, Sesame Street!}—one of these things is not like the others.

While Dickcissels are a somewhat uncommon bird in NJ (although they might be seen July-October), for them to be here in winter is very rare as they normally spend their winters in South America (with Venezuela being the most common location).

How rare? When I checked the eBird data in mid-March, only 8 Dickcissels (including mine) were confirmed & recorded anywhere north of the Mexico border!

As I’m a birder, I log my daily bird lists & counts into the eBird app. So, every time I add this Dickcissel to my list, a “Rare Bird Alert” gets sent out by the ABA (American Birding Association). I did not know this at the time. This has made my life very, very interesting over the last month.

I’ve received phone calls…voicemails…texts…emails…Twitter DMs! —all from people wanting to come see it. It’s humorous (and disconcerting) to receive texts from phone numbers you don’t know, with messages that start with “I’d like to see your Dickcissel…”

Uhh, EXCUSE ME? 

I mean, for real, THIS BIRD HAS PAPARAZZI!

So far, I think 14 people have come to see it, with two more already scheduled for next week. I’ve given the same spiel to looky-loos so many times that if this bird stays much longer, I’ll need to record one of those self-guided audio tours! I can’t help but feel like some sort of booking agent, scheduling appointments and meet & greets with “The Bird.”

Overall, it’s been blast meeting so many different people from such diverse areas and backgrounds—all because of this wayward little bird. I don’t know how long she’ll stay, but I just wanted fellow Bridgewater folks to get a chance to see our own bona fide bird celebrity!

It began with a birdbath...

(or, The Birdbath That Launched a Thousand Sips)

The secret to attracting wildlife, pollinators, and birds to your yard isn't bird feeders…or planting flowers bought from your local big-box garden center…or purchasing an overly large plot of land.

It's water.

And it doesn't even need to be a lot of water. It could be just a birdbath.

Take a look at this…

One of the most pitiful excuses for a birdbath you'll ever see, it occupies a highly prominent position in my rear yard, in clear view of my kitchen window. You can't avoid seeing it.

This sorry state of affairs is comprised of the following:

• 3 - square paving stones, stacked

• 1 - square wooden deck tile sample (we don't even have a deck!)

• 1 - 14" blue glazed ceramic plant saucer (and actually quite nice as saucers go, tbh!)

• a rock that I had constantly been tripping over

Ugly as it is, this jumble of junk was the seed of my entire future garden and habitat.

In birding circles, you'll hear people mention the "spark bird," which is a way of defining the first bird you saw that made you fall in love with birds or bird-watching/birding. Well, I have a "spark birdbath."

This birdbath became a locus for birds—big birds, little birds, bully birds, pretty birds—as well as chipmunks, squirrels, mice, raccoons, rabbits, foxes, skunks, opossums, butterflies, and every other manner of insect…all creatures great and small. Shocking, really, as I had no idea something that offered a patch of fresh water 14 inches in diameter and 1 inch deep would be so…needed?

Of course, this unexpected success naturally led me to more birdbaths—all different shapes, depths, heights, and materials. I’m up to twelve of them now, all much nicer, and no others assembled from junk (I promise!). Which then led to installing a pond. And then another pond…and then a vernal pool…connected to another vernal pool. Sure, it’s cliché, but it’s true—water IS life.

Now, you needn't even make it as, (ahem), elaborate as the above…you could just place a large plastic plant saucer on the ground or your patio, deck, wherever. Try it. No, really—try it...and watch it for a week and let me know what happened. Just be sure to put it somewhere shady. You’ll be amazed.  

As for the original birdbath, you might be asking—“ok, but why doesn’t she replace it with something nicer?”.  Because it’s a reminder to me that the tiniest, most humble effort can pave the way for more extraordinary things and do more good than you could imagine. It’s truly the spark that spread the fire and will of life across my landscape. I look out onto the lushness here now and think—all this?—from a BIRDBATH?!

Sure, she may be homely—but she’s a keeper.