Birds chirping around you is a beautiful realization that life is incredibly good. Let this sound be a gentle break in your routine. ~Hiral Nagda
I like birds. My mom liked birds. She loved feeding them and so do I. So I suppose it’s only natural that I enjoy putting a few birds in my stories. The three books pictured have special mentions of birds, but other of my stories do as well.
One of the birds I enjoy mentioning in my stories is the whippoorwill. I think this is because I always loved hearing the whippoorwill sing in the evening back when I lived in an old farmhouse where the windows were open in the spring and summer. I also remember going outside to listen. For some reason those whippoorwills didn’t follow me over to the new farm when we moved, but I never forgot the somehow yearning sound of the whippoorwill.
Maybe that was because of the Hank Williams song “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.” My mother was a big Hank Williams fan. The line I remember is about hearing that lonesome whippoorwill and that he sounded too blue to fly. I don’t know that I thought the bird sounded sad when I heard it, but there is something that pulls at your heart about its song. I know I had Jocie hearing the whippoorwill in my Heart of Hollyhill books. Jacci and Gabe talked about hearing whippoorwills as they went down the river on their showboat in In the Shadow of the River. And Piper in An Appalachian Summer loved hearing the whippoorwill when she got to the Appalachian Mountains to be a courier and help the midwife nurses.
My heart is like a singing bird. ~Christina Rossetti
Crows were the bird of choice in my book, When the Meadow Blooms. The idea of crows bringing someone treasures in thanks for being fed was one of the original sparks for the story. I wanted to come up with a little girl that had that happen for her. Sienna, my young sister, in the story was the perfect character for that since she loves all things nature. So, she made friends with a couple of crows who did bring her those gifts after she fed them corn. They were a big part of several important scenes in the story. Sienna did love her crows.
Bluebirds were the bird of choice in my story, The Song of Sourwood Mountain. Mira’s mother had passed down to her a ceramic bluebird figurine with the quote in the graphic below.
So, bluebirds have always been very special to Mira, and once she got to Sourwood Mountain, she had hopes of seeing and hearing bluebirds while trying to adjust to all the new things she faced in Sourwood. At the end of the story, Mira talks about seeing and hearing those bluebirds.
I did love hearing the papa bird sing his courtship song that gave promise of more bluebirds in Sourwood. (Mira)
I didn’t talk about the cardinal, but I’ve let a cardinal and a mockingbird have a few lines in the book I’m currently writing. No title yet, but it’s set back in the Appalachian Mountains where birds are all around.
I hope you’ve enjoyed me sharing some about my books the last few posts. The giveaway is still going on with the deadline to enter coming up on Saturday, March 1, 2025 at midnight EST. But you still have time to throw your name in my giveaway drawing hat to get an entry or another entry if you’ve responded to some of the other posts already. The prize is your choice of one my books. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post and you get that entry. You do have to be at least 18 years old to enter.
What is the bird you like most to see in your backyard or at the park or in the woods?
Comments 48
Without a doubt — the whippoorwill.
Author
I’d love to hear one in my field, Loretta. Nothing quite to match the whippoorwill’s call.
I love watching birds. It’s hard to pick a favorite. Humming birds are high on my list. So are Bluebirds and woodpeckers. Cardinals are very interesting. A few years ago I would go to my aunts house and fix lunch for her to make sure she ate. My cousin always had large containers of bird feed on her deck, and it was so fun watching the birds with her. One day, there was a male and female cardinal there. They kept running up to each other but not touching. After doing this for a while, their last playful moment was when they both ran to each other, kissed and ran back to their spot. I’d never seen that before. My aunt was having a good day, so she understood what they did. She was so cute. She just kept all talking about it for days. I’m so glad she was able to see this during her last days with us. ..Joy
Author
That’s such a sweet story, Joy. Thank you for sharing it. My mother fed the birds for years. So, after she began to fall into dementia, we moved the birdfeeder right in front of the window in hopes that seeing the birds would be something good for her. She was unhappy so often in those last couple of years. She never seemed to notice the birds as much as I hoped, but she did get a kick out of the squirrel that found a way to steal that birdseed no matter what we did to stop it. It even climbed up on the back of the house and came across the roof to jump from the roof onto the feeder in front of the house. That was after we had finally stopped it from climbing the metal post that held the feeder with some kind of barrier. In a way, I guess that birdfeeder did keep being a distraction for Mom, just not the way we had thought it would be.
I enjoy seeing the cardinals in our yard and hear the male and female calling to each other.
Author
The cardinals do seem to sing a lot, especially in the spring. I guess that’s courting season. Thanks for stopping by, Mary.
I love most all birds, but, especially the cardinals in the winter with their red color against the white snow. Also, the bluejays in the spring, although, I don’t see many of those anymore.
Author
Cardinals certainly make you notice them with their bright color, Linda Dianne. I have bluejays come to my feeders. They can be bossy birds and don’t always like to share on those feeder trays. They are ready to sound the warning too if they see something they don’t like.