BLUEBIRDS IN OUR MIDST

I am one of very few wildlife enthusiasts fortunate enough to have hand-fed a wild bluebird.  It was a moment I will never forget as I connected with this incredibly tiny and beautiful creature.

This unforgettable experience came courtesy of Roxbury resident, Judith Taylor.

A veteran bird watcher, Taylor was not satisfied with the usual symbolic connection to bluebirds made famous in song and literature. Taylor was determined to reach over that rainbow and capture the essence of the eastern bluebird.

Frustrated with attempts to get close enough to the beautiful birds, Taylor combed available research into their habitat, mating patterns and lifestyles hoping to find a way to reach out to them.

With the help of her husband, Richard, Taylor repaired some old bluebird houses and set them adjacent to a large meadow around the edge of her Roxbury property, the ideal habitat for bluebirds.  She waited and waited. Yes, they arrived and she could see them, but they remained in the treetops refusing to come any closer to the house.

It wasn't until Taylor placed meal worms, a favorite food of bluebirds, that one of the bluebirds began moving closer the house. Taylor inched the container of meal worms from a rock wall at the edge of the meadow, closer and closer to the house until it reached the kitchen window sill.  

It wasn’t too long before, the male, now named Lord Blue, began gathering meal worms in plain view of the kitchen window.

Once Lord Blue realized there was going to be an endless supply of his favorite food, he chose a mate, and began feeding her as she nested in one of the newly renovated boxes.

The first eggs appeared. 

Having developed the relationship through the kitchen window, Taylor was soon able to approach the boxes to monitor the eggs and ultimately the nestlings.

With extraordinary patience and what Taylor describes as a true connection to nature, Lord Blue began to fly to Taylor’s hand to retrieve his meal worms.

Thus, began Taylor’s amazing and intimate bluebird adventure that spanned the next summer and the arrival of a new pair, the male she named Earl Blue.

Fortunately, for the rest of us, Taylor began photographing her bluebird adventures with her first summer with Lord Blue and family, and continued documenting her bluebird adventures through the next several years.

After spending these extraordinary summers with her bluebird families, Taylor decided to put her photos, experiences and memories and emotions into a book to share this amazing ride with the nature-loving public.

Her published book, “Reaching Over the Rainbow” is a compilation of the first three years of her intimate bluebird experiences.

Both emotional uplifting and, at times, heartbreaking, the book is a concise and factual guide for anyone willing to devote the time and extraordinary patience to reach out to these magnificent birds. And according to Taylor, “everyone has the ability to connect to nature inside them.”

Although not a professional photographer, Taylor’s amazing close-up and intimate photographs of the bluebirds that have touched her life truly attest to this extraordinary woman’s relationship with these beautiful birds.

Well written and beautifully photographed, it is a nature lover’s bible on reaching out and connecting to wildlife. 

Epilogue

Two years after saying farewell to the book’s avian hero, Earl Blue, the author is now enjoying the presence of one of his offspring. He and his second mate, “Big Mama” an unusually large female bluebird with noticeable unique markings, have created a rather large family of baby blues.

The saga continues as one of their female fledglings, with markings similar to her mother, raises her own family in the same Roxbury meadow. 

Currently she and her very handsome mate are incubating five bright blue eggs.

Reaching Over the Rainbow contains over 80 four-color images and narrative running throughout its 40 pages. It is available for about $30 through www.Blurb.com and also at Fine Line Art Gallery in Woodbury, where copies signed by the author are sold or by emailing the author at earthdances@optonline.net, (indicate “bluebird book” in the subject line). 

About the Author

Judith Taylor is a ceramic artist, veteran birder and former soloist with the American Ballet Theater. She and her husband, Richard Taylor divide their time between their residences in Manhattan and Roxbury.

Fortunately for all of us, Taylor’s home and pottery studio in Roxbury are located in the ideal habitat for Eastern Bluebirds.