My wife enjoys feeding and watching the birds that are attracted to our yard. I enjoy watching them also but usually do not admit to it since bird watching is not nearly as macho as hunting Cape buffalo. I would hunt Cape buffalo if they were in my front yard, but since they are not, I watch the birds that are here and try not to complain too loudly about the amount of money spent on specialized bird seed. We have been able to attract large numbers of many varieties of birds with my wife’s effort.

One day, my grandson Zane was at our place. We were sitting quietly on the patio discussing the world situation, when he noticed birds all over the feeders. At 6 years old, he has not really figured out all the nuances of conservation. Currently he is in the mode of all creatures being here strictly for his nourishment. If we shoot it, we can eat it. He asked me if he could shoot a bird for supper. I did my best to explain, some animals are here for our enjoyment such as the robins, goldfinches and bluebirds. They are protected and can not be shot. Other animals, such as deer, turkey, squirrels, and rabbits are for eating, when the hunting season opens. Season is not open now because they need to have their babies and raise them to survive on their own so we will have food for the next year.

I am not sure he bought my whole conservation talk because he then asked me if he could catch one of the birds in his butterfly net. Not wanting to get into the subject of males, females and reproduction any deeper than I had to, I told him he could try to catch a bird in his net. I knew it was impossible to catch a bird off a feeder with a butterfly net. He would soon get bored or frustrated and move on to another project. Kids have a short attention span.

He was standing near a bird feeder, net poised when I went to the barn to work on a project. About a half hour passed and Zane came rushing into my shop. “Grandpa, I have a bird!” he exclaimed. In disbelief, I looked at his net. Sure enough, there was a downy headed woodpecker looking back at me with a severely alarmed expression. “Can we eat him?” was his first question. I was so flabbergasted he had caught a bird, I again went into my long drawn out explanation about seasons, songbirds and was about to wander into the dreaded reproductive cycle speech when it dawned on me. The boy understands food. “No, it would take too many of them to make a meal.” He understood this answer saving serious thought about what would be our next move. He opened the net and the terrified little bird flew off.

When Zane went home, he told his dad about catching a bird. Being polite, Damon said, “Oh, really.” He did not believe the story, even with my collaboration.

The next time Zane spent the day at our house, he asked again if he could catch birds with his net. I assured him it would be fine, knowing full well he could not do it again. I was gone when he brought the net to the house complete with bird to his grandmother. It was her turn to deal with the situation. When asked what to do with the bird now, all he wanted to do was keep the bird long enough to show his dad. Zane and his Nanna made a safe place in a ventilated bucket to take home. A sparrow was safely transported to his house to prove a person can catch a bird in a butterfly net.

We all know it could not happen again but we have done away with the butterfly net just in case.