Ceramic Homage to Small Brown Birds

The birds have entertained me mightily today and I’ve decided to combine a former posting about them with some current news. We have a SquirrelBuster feeder that I swear by and it is hanging from our Arts and Crafts-style arbor out front. I can see it from my kitchen window. For hours, there’s been a rumpus between the black cap chickadees, the chestnut backed chickadees and the little brown birds. Last year, the feeder hung from the eavestroughing and the brown ones couldn’t reach it. Now, though, they have an arbor to perch on between forays to the feeder. Not only that, they seemed to be camping out on the feeder… I see the poor little black caps hovering for space but these homely brown birds aren’t budging… It’s pouring down rain and they are all wet. No need to use the birdbath for a drink and I guess it’s time for me to remove the birdbath heater, as the weather’s actually quite mild now.

Our property here is covered with understory in the form of salmonberry bushes. There is a forest standing right behind our house and, because of it, a variety of birds keep us company year ’round. Usually, the small brown birds occupy the ground and I’d always thought of them of ground birds until today. They’d never used the elevated feeders before and relied on pecking the ground to find food. They have become very dear to me. Chickadees might dramatically flit and fly around the tube feeder, but these humble little brown birds always hopped over the wet or frozen ground and cocked an eye, asking me to not forget them. While they have muted tones, nondescript markings or shape, they can be very sweet and personable. One, in particular, showed itself to be no wallflower. If I hadn’t put seed on the ground for it, it’d stand on the joists of the partly built porch and peer at me through the front window. It was so fluffed out, it was almost round and is what my Mom calls an LBJ, little brown job…a generic little brown bird. I’ve tried keying out these tiny birds in my field guides, but with little success. I can’t see markings clear enough from the window and they dash off when I walk out with an eye toward watching them. Maybe their very homeliness is the reason I’ve noticed their personalities… I see the flashy chickadees all the time and can’t say I’ve been able to tell one from the other. Now the LBJs… London Clay Birds remind me of my little birds and I think these little ceramic figurines capture the essence of these little birds very well. These sweet renditions are of birds found in the area where the artisan who makes them lives, London, England. “As the clay is unpurified I get a variety of effects when they are fired,” explains Dawn Painter on her blog site.  She states that the birds are made of local clay, which “is a marine deposit from the Paleogene period – 60/50 million years ago. London was, back then, covered by a warm tropical sea.” Painter’s birds capture the charm of our LBJs. This stoneware wren is wonderful, too. There’s an honesty and directness I find appealing and its quiet coloration and stylization make it very attractive. Made by Andersen Studio, in Boothbay, Maine, it is the epitome of the little brown bird. Winter is very rainy here in British Columbia and would be dull without our birds. I am so happy they grace our presence and always look forward to their return. Our little brown birds like us and I love them.