Sandy’s brother came to me, but she was too skeptical.
I have been doing a project at Rockefeller State Park for almost 13 years now. My job is to check Bluebird nest boxes and keep records of each nest and its success by counting the eggs, the chicks that hatch, and how many fledged.
About three years ago Sandy from the Audubon Society got involved with this project and we started to band the birds to keep better records of the success of the nests.
Sandy and I worked together on the banding we get together several times a year depending on how many nests we have. During this time, we had great conversations including stories about this part of my life.
A few years back Sandy’s Brother built four nest boxes, two were placed in Rockefellers and two at her house. The boxes in Rockefellers attracted Tree Swallow but no Bluebirds. Sadly, her brother passed away not too long after we put up the boxes.
In July of this year 2023 Sandy, myself, and Betty whom Sandy invited along to observe and help with the banding bluebirds. Sandy was talking to her about her brother and the story about him and the boxes, while we were banding the chicks from a box and waiting for the adult to come to the box so we could capture it and band it if it didn’t have a band,
As we were waiting, we were having an interesting conversation, and suddenly, Sandy’s brother came to me. I didn’t say anything at the time because I do not do the blind side as I call it, however, in Sandy’s case, I didn’t say anything to Sandy because I know she is very skeptical of what I do & although she politely listens to the stories, I don’t think she believes them but listens just the same.
Once we finished the banding Sandy drove us back to our cars. Betty who believes this was asking me questions about this when Sandy’s brother became more vocal. I didn’t want to just tell Sandy what I was hearing without validating it was him. I asked her if her brother was very tall & blond. Her response was, well I am tall and blond so of course he was.
That is exactly what skeptics do, they find what in their mind is a “logical” answer to what I tell them. At that point, I dropped it and didn’t bother to convey the messages I was getting. Let’s analyze this, just because Sandy is tall doesn’t mean her siblings are all tall and the blond thing, Sandy being a woman I have no idea if Sandy was born blond or, changed her hair color, I have seen siblings with different hair colors.
Her brother told me he has what I call a sarcastic sense of humor & liked to kid people, he also told me he will send a unique bird to his nests. I will never know if that fit for him and as of now do not know if he will send that bird. Because she said what she said, she didn’t hear what else I had to say.
NOTE VIDEO WILL BE UP 8/13 at 11:00am, https://youtu.be/NWKuPKs8sdE