Photography And Half-Thoughts By Mitchell Hegman

...because some of it is pretty and some of it is not.

Saturday, December 30, 2017

An indoor flock of LBJs

Yesterday, while driving around in snowbound Helena, the authority having jurisdiction (a woman formerly known as “that girl”) and I stopped at Lowe’s Home Improvement Center.   I wanted to see about finding a telescoping snow rake.  I need something to drag snow from where it collects atop the modules of my solar photovoltaic array.
We found a display of exactly such rakes just inside the front door.  They were close to what I wanted, but I had hoped for something a bit less bulky and less expensive.  The authority having jurisdiction asked a store employee if there might be other options.  The employee, a woman of about our age, suggested we check along the west wall of the store near the snow shovels.
After only a few steps down the aisle along the west wall, about a dozen LBJs dropped from the open bar joists above, pirouetted as a group in midair, and then dispersed in several directions.  Four of them landed on the racks a few feet above our heads.
I snapped a photo with my smarter-than-me-phone.      
For those unfamiliar, LBJs (little brown jobs) are any kind of smallish and not particularly colorful passerine (perching) bird you have not exactly identified.
The birds enjoy some pretty good digs in the Lowe’s store.  A bunch of live plants are on display nearby.  They have busted into huge bags of birdseed and also have occasional whatnots dropped by passing toddlers to eat.  I’m guessing store employees provide them with water.
The same employee who directed us to the west wall later told us a few birds spend their winters in the store every year.  “If too many get inside,” she added, “we capture them with nets and throw them back outside.”
“I like seeing them in here,” I admitted.   Having just come inside the store after trudging through several inches of snow, I said: “You can’t blame them for taking up residence in here.”


-- Mitchell Hegman

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