The Sparrow Story Part 5

You've heard of the Great Wall of China, you've heard of Hadrian's Wall on the border of Scotland and England and you've heard of the Wailing Wall. We have the most famous wall of all -- the Sparrow Wall. Right outside our front door is a concrete wall with ledges that give the sparrows just enough space to perch on. On a daily basis, this wall is photographed countless times by all who pass and admire this amazing sight of sparrows perched so close and looking so cute. As the sparrows wait to fly in for their visit with us, they seem to have an unspoken understanding as to which group comes in first, second, third and so on. In the morning, our first visitor of the day is our sweet friend Georgina. She waits so patiently for us to open the door and as always, she waits by the counter to be greeted and we give her a peanut treat. It's almost as if she knows how very welcome she is and how delightfully she starts our day.

The Sparrow Story Part 4

Ah, springtime. All through the winter, we look forward to the sunny days of spring, the sweet smell of flowers blossoming and sometimes romance is in the air as well. It seems our Georgina found a mate and brought one of her babies into the store to meet us. While the baby chirped loudly and fluttered and flapped her little wings next to her mama, Georgina fed her baby peanuts -- directly into her open mouth. What an awesome sight and amazing aspect to this story that she felt so trusting and comfortable with us that she brought in one of her new offspring. They both flew up to the soffit of the store and Georgina left her baby with us for the next several hours. The baby chirped loudly looking for mama all day. She hadn't yet learned how to exit the store. Oh my goodness. What do we do now? Fortunately, Georgina returned towards the evening and they both flew off across the street to Millennium Park.

Now that you've read this post, you know how 3 turned into 23. Word got out through the sparrow community about our store and now Precious Possessions hosts a flock of both male and female sparrows. Initially, the males were very hesitant to come in and they waited perched outside our door cocking their little heads while waiting for the girls. By the way, the males have different markings than the girls. They're very handsome and very vocal -- in fact, the boys sing beautifully and serenade the female sparrows. We are lucky enough to enjoy their beautiful love songs on many occasions. They serenade us and our guests.

Come back next week to find out about the most famous wall in the city of Chicago.

Eye of the Tiger

Ross Augusta is an up-and-coming singer and musician. He stopped by recently looking for a special piece to wear on stage. He chose tiger eye, because it’s an excellent stone for providing focus and helping to accomplish goals.

The necklace he’s wearing was actually two separate elements, but we combined them to make this dynamic, unique piece. We love to create one of a kind, custom jewelry pieces that will always have special meaning to our guests because it will be personal only to them.

Back to Ross: he’s an incredibly talented artist, a singer with soul and great energy. Some of his songs are on Myspace and Facebook, so you should definitely check him out and buy his music. You can also find him singing in various venues around Chicago and other cities, so keep an eye out for this rising star!

To Markus

Timberdoodle, hokumpoke, bogsucker.

One morning after opening Precious Possessions, I went out to run some errands. Several blocks away at Michigan and Adams, I found a beautiful, magnificient bird sitting very still on the ground. I tried to shoo him off, as the sidewalk isn’t a safe place for birds, but he didn’t fly away. Upon closer inspection, he appeared stunned, so I brought him back to the store.

I gave him some water, and set him in a warm, cozy box. We called the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors at 773-988-1867. They’re an all-volunteer organization that rescues and rehabilitates injured birds. Keep that number because it’s important!

The lady from the CBCM arrived about an hour later to pick him up. She said he was a woodcock, aka hokumpoke or bogsucker, which is a type of shorebird related to sand pipers. They fly north to breed, and live in the eastern half of North America and the Gulf Coast states. They’re known as harbingers of spring and new beginnings.

Woodcocks have had a drop in population since the 1960s. It’s mostly from a decrease in habitat. Conservationists have been working to stabilize and increase the woodcock population.

We called a few days later, and learned our little guy had recovered, and was going to be released soon. A happy ending.

We believe that humans are the guardians of the planet, and that if we learn to care for its animals we might learn to care for and respect each other. Can you imagine what a wonderful planet this might be if we all had a little more kindness?

In loving memory of Markus Mirko Davidovic
October 31, 1976 - April 3, 2011

The Sparrow Story Part 3

Winter has ended; let's jump to spring 2009. The sparrows have become such a delightful part of our everyday lives, yet we're still in such awe of the fact they've "adopted us." In the springtime, sparrows mate. And how do we know this? Georgina brought us a beak full of grass blades and dropped them on the floor to indicate that she was nesting. Of course, I'm getting a little ahead of our story. During the course of winter, we had quite a worry with Georgina. We noticed that her right eye had a red ring around it that looked terrible. We had no way to get her to a vet. Thank God it healed on its own. And by the way, although her eye healed, the way we recognize Georgina is by the scarring on her right eye, and the fact that she is the only one that likes to be hand-fed her special diet of peanuts. Charlotte lost her tail feathers that winter and they eventually grew back, and Samantha seemed to have survived the cold Chicago winter without issue.

Georgina continues to come into the store every day without fail -- in fact, she visits with us numerous times throughout the day. Charlotte came in all summer long. Samantha did not. We'd like to think that she met a mate and moved to another location -- maybe she decided to move to a more rural area.

Come back next week and find out how 3 turned into 23...