After our great time at the Botanica seeing the Lego sculptures, it was time to eat! Emeri and Elijah had never eaten at Cheddar's so it was decided to go there!
They have the BEST croisssants!!
YUM!!
Everything tastes SO GOOD!
We were headed to see the purple martins roosting.
They gather from all over Kansas and other states.
We had noticed that for awhile our martins were around during the day, but in the evening, they would leave. So we looked up on-line to see where they were roosting this year. Seems like each year they pick a different spot in Wichita. Last year, we don't know where they met up.
We wanted to have the kids experience this amazing phenomenon! We knew the birds wouldn't begin circling the skies until sundown, so, having a little time, we went to Target and let the kids pick out a little gift. We gave them a certain amount and they spent time searching the aisles for just the perfect thing! Horses for Claire, of course! Can a boy have too many Nerf guns?? The older girls got clothes and make-up.
We read that the purple martins were gathering in the PF Chang parking lot.
We didn't see any other bird watchers at all. Was this really the spot where the martins would gather? There was a security guard there so we asked her if she had noticed bird watchers the evenings prior gathering for this. She had no idea what we were talking about! We explained it to her. We told her that in days to come, to expect a crowd of people. (and we were right!)
Claire was the first to spot the birds. Just a few at first.
The kids wanted to go to the little lake and
since the birds were just starting to gather, we walked over there.
We headed back toward the car as we could see more and more birds arriving.
It's a bird, it's a plane...
Ever watch "The Birds" by Alfred Hitchcock? It was almost like that, except they didn't attack us. Unless you count the fact that they did poop on a couple of the kids!
What a great show!
God has done amazing things! Only He could create birds who know to assemble with 50,000 other birds each year for migration to Brazil; who can fly across the Gulf. And who can fly without bumping into each other! It was like a praise service to Him to watch these birds!
The purple Martin's are still in Wichita??
ReplyDeleteThis post is from earlier, but this past week Sept 22, we actually saw a remnant there! I know the others left middle of August. Not sure why this group was there, but they were definitely purple martins and roosting in the same trees! Are they from further north? Or did this group decide to make Kansas home? No place like Home, as they say!
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