Everybody loves a good personality inventory. Take the test and find out if you’re an introvert or extrovert; Type A or Type B personality; phlegmatic, choleric, melancholic or sanguine. Do you prefer wine and cheese or cookies and milk? Are you a dog person or a cat person, or allergic to both? Do you hang your toilet paper with the end coming from the top or the bottom? Are you Elsa or Anna, Bozo or Bono, Mary Poppins or Marty McFly?
When you get tired of these cheesy personality tests, you can look to nature to observe a range of personality types. Any kind of animal will suffice. I decided to do a pseudo-scientific survey of the birds in my backyard.
One year we had a Stellar’s jay who made regular visits. He would land on our backyard fence, which stretched up to the dining room window. He would hop along the fence, turning from side to side with every hop, watching us from the outside while we watched him from the inside. We called him “Hopsalot Near.” He came back for maybe two or three years, hopping along the fence in a blaze of blue and black, before fading out of our lives.
For the past few years we’ve seen “my little bird friend” take up residence in the hanging birdhouse my daughter built from a kit and painted many years ago. We saw the birdhouse as decoration, but to the little dark-eyed junco, it’s home. He flits in and out of the tiny doorway numerous times each day. First we’ll see him entering with nesting materials in his beak, then he’ll return with worms and such to provide for a growing family. He must feel right at home here, because he’s returned year after year to add on to the same nest.
Last year natural disaster struck. My little bird friend had stuffed so much straw and nesting material into that kid-made birdhouse that the bottom and one side fell right off. The birdhouse exploded from the inside out. My little bird friend got the last laugh, since the nest clung to the top and other sides of the birdhouse, refusing to succumb to the forces of gravity. The Junco family hung out there without mishap until the babies were ready to fly. Once the birdhouse was abandoned for the season, we cleaned out the nest, reattached the bottom and sides and hung it up again, good as new. This year when my little bird friend returned, all he had to do was redecorate.
Then there are the bald eagles throughout the community. Rain or shine, day or night, you’re guaranteed to see at least one bald eagle sitting sentinel on the light poles along the highway watching the cars go by. I have to wonder what they’re up to. Are they posted there for surveillance, serving as not-so subtle spies for the BIRD (Bird Intelligence Reconnaissance Department)? Are they collecting data for the Department of Transportation? Are they provided by the police to reduce traffic speeds? Or are they watching over their flock, us humans, as we zoom from home to work and back again as if we too could fly?
Three different birds, with three different temperaments. The sprightly Stellar’s jay hops to and fro, trying to attract the attention of the humans he’s curious about. He is the epitome of an extrovert. The domestic dark-eyed junco works hard to provide a home and nourishment for a brood of chicks. Small and drab, he’s notable for his faithfulness and constancy. The majestic bald eagle surveys the highway, aloof and beautiful, epitomizing strength and omniscience. Surely he knows everything that’s going on around town, watching from afar without deigning to participate.
So, which bird are you? Are you the energetic, flashy Stellar’s jay, the quiet, domestic dark-eyed junco or the ruling bald eagle? Which would you choose for your best friend, or your life partner? Which would you most want to babysit? If you could change your innate personality, which bird would you desire to be?
Me, I’m the dark-eyed junco.
• Peggy McKee Barnhill is a wife, mother and aspiring author who lives in Juneau. She likes to look at the bright side of life.
