Birds All March on the Battlefield 6

House of Worship Finch

Male House Finch

A fellow coworker of mine, who grew up in the Gettysburg area and had several summertime jobs at local establishments, has shared with me that she would regularly get stopped by visiting tourists and asked, “Can you tell me where the Battlefield is?” Even though they may have been standing in the middle of the town, the reply would be, “You’re on it!”

What some people forget, about Gettysburg, is that the battle not only took place throughout the surrounding countryside, but it was happening in the town. There were sharpshooters in buildings, people hiding out in cellars, and many of the buildings were being used as headquarters or hospitals.

The streets were so overloaded with corpses after the battle that many people were getting sick and dying, due to the rampant diseases.

One of such buildings that were being used as a hospital was the Christ’s Church, which was founded in 1836. It has since changed names, and is now the Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church. The church still stands today (44 Chambersburg Street), and has many of its original components. According to the church’s website, one of the primary reasons for its establishment was so that local Lutherans could come to a place and have the services in English; most Lutheran services were conducted in German.

Now, this post is not about the church, but I did need to set the stage that although the photos of the birds were taken in the middle of the town, at a church, it is still a part of the Battlefield.

Red Rump of the male House Finch
He is framed in one of the window panes of  the church.

These photos are of the House Finch.
While on a photo walk with a few other photographers, I was hoping that I would be able to get a photo or two to use in this series. For the greater part of the walk, I wasn’t having any luck. We were just winding things down, when we were approaching the church and I could hear the sounds of birds, and they were very close. Normally, when I’m out looking for birds to photograph, I have my extender on, which allows me to get closer shots from further away. Since I was taking a number of other shots during the walk, I didn’t have the extender on, but I didn’t need it for these shots.

Although these birds are of the smaller and skittish type, it appeared as though they had become somewhat comfortable with all of the pedestrian foot traffic that passed their perches on a regular basis.

Red breast, forehead & eyebrow of the male
House Finch

I was quite happy when I initially turned and saw the red coloring of the male House Finch. I wasn’t sure what type of bird it was, when I took the shot, but knew that I had not had the pleasure of photographing one of them yet.

Female House Finch

When photographing this bird, I was sure that I was capturing a totally different type; however, after looking them both up in my Field Guide to Birds, I realized that they were the male and female of the House Finch.

The Guide suggests that this species of bird was released near New York, in the 1940’s, and although they nearly didn’t survive on Long Island, over the next 30 years they established themselves in New York and the suburban areas.

Perhaps I will have to request access to the Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, at some point, and do a post on the building itself.

Enjoy.