When I was young, I rode my bicycle for miles each day.

First, to deliver newspapers, and then to explore the country roads that lay beyond the small town and the suburban homes in the area where I lived.

Before these fields and meadows were covered with housing developments, and before road congestion grew dangerous to bike riders, this was a favorite pastime.

On summer days, I often paused in the perfect silence to hear the bees, listen to the birds, and observe the wildflowers that bordered the fields. 

(Why are country roads now bereft of flowering plants?  Rock salt from winter road maintenance?)

One could observe many birds, including the Bobolink.

Bobolinks love grassy fields and meadows, and the disappearance of these open spaces makes the bird much harder to find.

The postcard illustration was issued by the National Wildlife Federation in 1939; it was from a series on “National Wildlife”.

The postcard was not mailed, but may have been collected by one of the thousands of youngsters who avidly collected these images.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Wildlife_Federation

The appearance of this wildlife postcard differs somewhat from that of the Prothonotary Warbler and of the Bluebird posted on this site – those postcards were from a series of “Eastern Songbirds”.

Here’s to the preservation of fields and meadows and to the songs of the birds!