Kid's-eye View
Mendon Ponds Park Bird Walk
Rochester NY
by Hilary Schneck

February 2001
  

A small forest in Rochester named Mendon Ponds Park has an area called "Birdsong Trail," where birds are tame enough to come and eat seeds from your hand. Here is a March 2001, first-hand account from Elaine Andersen's daughter and five grandchildren.
 
Jake (then age 13): We went to Mendon Ponds Park where someone had spilled a lot of seed, so the birds were eating off the ground. We covered up the seeds with snow so they would come to our hands. Eventually I just sat in a big clump of bushes and waited. I moved my hands toward the birds that were near me and that's how I got my first birds. Then I kept getting more and more. Once I had two birds at one time on my hand. One chickadee tried to crack a seed open on my thumb, but my glove was not firm enough, so he flew and cracked it open in the tree. All together, I got about 25 chickadees to eat out of my hand, but I stopped counting after 18.
 
Tiffany (then age 11): When you go to this trail the birds are very tame and used to people coming with seed. We even saw deer about 15 feet away, just walking the trail. It would be nice to go in the spring: everything would be flowering and there would be baby birds to feed. When I got my first bird, I wasn't looking and I missed it! I noticed the other 6! I even said "Hello" to one, and it chirped back. I saw a woman who got 2 white breasted nuthatches. I friend of ours got 2 male cardinals. I got 7 chickadees.
 
Nathan (then age 8): It was winter when we went there, and I was really cold. I stayed there awhile and then went back in the car. I got three birds in my hand. They were chickadees. I was really excited because I was the first one to get a chickadee in my hand. We used sunflower seeds. I was wearing light blue gloves, and my Mom thinks maybe that's why they came to me first. Everyone else was wearing very dark gloves.  
 
Stephanie (then age 6): I loved when the deer came because they usually never come in front of people. There were only two, a mommy and baby deer. They kept walking toward the people, and then they walked into the bushes. I kept spilling the birdseed, but I was trying to hold it. It was very cold, and I could even stand there to get a bird. I saw some chickadees, cardinals and there were some more birds, but I don't know what they're called.

Bethany (then age 4): I saw the deer and they walked into the forest. They were very far away, then they were close to me. We fed the birds sunflower seed, which is what hummingbirds eat when they are done drinking nectar.

(From Hilary, their mom: No we did not see any hummingbirds. Don't worry–she'll get it straight when she's a little older. Although some may argue that a park such as this changes the natural behavior of birds and could put them in a dependent state upon humans, I would find it hard to believe that children who are taught to respect birds and their habitats could pose a bigger threat to wildlife than children who are not taught. We hope to return in springtime.)
 

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