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Qualities
Dedicated
Caring
Remarkable
Memorable
Friend to wild birds
Gentle
Force of Nature
Wise
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Ann Young
'The Bird Lady'
1945 - 08/31/2008
Altamonte Springs, Fl
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Passions
Son, Bill
Birds
Volunteers
Pow Wows
Drum Circles
The Badlands of
South Dakota
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Bird Lady...Headed for Heaven
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(posted by Bill Shafer in Growingbolder dot com. See video below under Personal Tributes - courtesy of Bill Shafer)
Ann Young died today. And if you listen very close you can tell. Songbirds aren't singing quite as sweet.
She was the best friend wild birds ever had. Thousands owe her their lives. Thousands more won't survive now that she's gone.
She was known as the Bird Lady of Altamonte Springs. For over two decades she dedicated her home, her love, and her life to taking care of injured and orphaned wild birds.
People brought them from all over the Orlando area. Seven days week, day or night the phone would ring, or there'd be a knock at the door.
And seven days a week, day or night, Ann was always there.
In my two decades as a reporter at WESH-TV (NBC) I did at least a half dozen stories on Ann. She hated every one of them!
I always thought it was because of her thick accent, her grayed hair, or every nook and cranny of her home littered with cages and chirping birds.
But no. She knew that along with every story would come a flood of new birds.
Ann poured everything she had into their care. Literally. There was a time she would sell her plasma to afford to buy meal worms to feed the birds.
Baby season every year was a madhouse. There were babies to be fed around the clock. No sooner had they all eaten than it was time to start the process over again.
It wasn't cheap. They went through food and medicine faster than they could ship it in. Many people who dropped birds off would not make donations.
Ann, her supporters and loyal volunteers picked up the slack. I never heard any of them complain.
I went to see Ann just a few weeks ago. My son wrestled a baby bird out of the mouth of the neighbor's cat.
These are the photos. He insisted that we rush the little blue jay over to the Bird Lady. He loved the place.
She was the Willy Wonka of wild birds. She could be a little scary and a bit gruff on the exterior. But you could actually sense the goodness in her heart, her concern for each and every creature.
And you could tell the birds knew it, too. In her confident, caring grip, they seemed to know she was there to help.
I listened to the phone message just tonight. It was one of her volunteers asking me to call right away. I knew it wasn't good news, but I never expected what I heard.
Tracy was with her until 9 last night. "Ann seemed fine. She took a nap, got up and did her cages and said she was going to bed. I had no clue at all if there was anything wrong. All I know is that today when one of the volunteers got there at noon, she found Ann lying on the couch."
Ann Young is someone that should be envied. She lived her life the way she wanted. She didn't care what anyone else thought. Where most of us search for our purpose in life, she knew hers. And she fulfilled it each and every moment she was alive. She made a tremendous difference.
Yes, she saved the lives of thousands of birds. But she also left an indelible impression on countless people, too. I'm one of them. I was fascinated by Ann. So was my wife. Even my son realized at a very young age how special she was. She's one of the most memorable people I've ever met.
Know what just dawned on me? Ann would hate this story. Too much about her and not enough about the birds. So lets do this. Promise you'll notice them. Watch them. Appreciate them. Maybe do something to help them. And who knows, maybe you'll fall in love with birds just like she did. That's something Ann would love!
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Personal Tributes
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09/06/2008
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Ann,
I never got to give you the artwork that I brought back from Santa Fe for you. I was going to send it to you the day that I got the news that you had flown off to another realm. It is entitled "Prayer Feather" - and, it seems very appropriate now. It is now my prayer for you. The raven is in it. It made me think of you.
My heart hears the Warriors and Ancestors at Wounded Knee welcoming with drums and chanting a great Woman Warrior to join them as they keep vigil over the Sacred Ground. One day, I will join you. My memories are precious. Wish we could have made a lot more while on this plane of existence.
I promised you I would go to the next Pow Wow. I look forward to experiencing your spirit beside me there in November.
I love you, Ann. Thanks for being in my life! Mitaku Oyasin! Fly Free Forever!
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Jeannie Economos
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09/28/2008
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ANN YOUNG'S LEGACY
Ann Young was loved, admired and idolized by those of us who knew her. We were blessed by WHO she was. How many times in our lifetime will we know anyone as totally and perfectly dedicated to giving every fiber of herself to wild beings with feathers? The only answer is "never".
While she no longer occupies physical space in this planet, she has left a rich legacy.
Ann's demise is bittersweet. Although she had left a void that cannot be filled by another earthly body, here is the sweetness of her passing. She will never grow older and curse the breakdown of her aching body. She will never weep because she can no longer save as many birds as she used to. She will never see her eyes grow clouded as she searches the skies for the brilliance of beating wings. She will never have to depend on another person to minister to her feathered patients. She will never be defeated by disease or illness. And most of all, she will never again have to feel a limp body and the stillness of an avian heart held next to her chest.
I have written an as-yet-unpublished book about my wild adventures with animals and about my friends, loved ones and personal heroes.......wildlife rehabbers. Naturally, Annie fills a chapter about wild birds. Here is one of her stories that I believe personifies her life.
"One Spring someone brought Ann a nest of peeping Chimney Swifts. The baby birds didn't even have a fuzzy hint of feathers yet. Ann took them into her home, and put them in with the other chaotic patients she had in her bird hospital. She also took them into her heart.
In her experienced hands they grew, feathered and were soon ready for release. Her stomach turned somersaults the day she walked barefoot out onto the grass of her back yard and lifted the swifts up toward the sky. Ann watched as they flew off and then returned to circle her and land on her head, shoulders and arms. Hours passed as she coaxed them to fly away and claim their wild heritage. Finally, with a lump clogging her throat, she had to push them away from her and run in the house. the swifts perched on a sill and watched her through the kitchen window, wondering why their Big Mama had deserted them. She left food for them out on the window sill but they were gone the next morning.
A busy bird year passed. Ann often thought about her swifts as she fixed and fussed over her noisy, always hungry avian brood. The middle of May arrived with the chaotic chatter of all the baby birds that come with the season. As Ann got up from bed one morning and heard all of the raucous starving demands, she thought surely that half of the nestlings of Florida were in her house. The her ears picked up a different but familiar 'chippering' call. With a whoosh two chimney swifts emerged from her chimney and landed on her shoulders. Then to her amazement three more juvenile swifts perched on her mantle place.
Her swifts had come home to Mom and brought their youngun's for her to coo over and admire. Tears flowed around her laughing lips.
Later in the day, Ann looked at the calendar and realized with joy that is was Mother's Day. She grinned and thought "Surely no mother had ever received a greater gift." Every year thereafter her swifts and their children and children's children visited her on Mother's Day."
This true story exemplifies Ann and her birds. She did not just connect spiritually and bond with her birds, but she crossed the specie bridge and became one with them. The birds loved and revered her as much as she did them. They were joined.
Ann was not just a human body having a spiritual experience. she was a spirit having a human experience. Ann has left this earthy plane......and now she is a living, loving legend.
Heidi Van Wagnen (formerly 'Higdon)
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HEIDI
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09/17/2009
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Dear Mom,
I hope that your final journey was far greater than you could ever have imagined? Although life on Earth without you hasn’t been the same, for us and the feathered ones I now know that you can do more for all things dear to your heart, than ever before, without the exhaustion that took you from us so soon. I truly believe that you were there as we held your celebration of life service and heard via a contact of Lindsey’s, that you were exactly were you wanted to be. Although overcome with grief, I was dumbfounded with joy, in that the lady did not know you personally, yet, she wrote of many, many things that I had been told by you over the years that no one could have possibly known. I have spent many a days at was once our home at 205 Robin Road over the last year wondering what would have happened had Donna and I not found that little Mocker that sent you on your life’s path so many, many years ago? Would you be here today? would Donna? I’m not quite sure, but I have come to truly believe with all that you taught me, that no matter how tragic the circumstances, that all things happen for a reason. Your passing has reawakened my senses and the importance of listening with our ears and our hearts. I would give anything to have had at least one more day with you, to ask the many, many questions I took for granted, believing that you would be here another day and that you would have the time to answer them. Although you are gone and physically unable to answer in that positive way you always did, with that distinguished Scottish Brogue that I could only hear when I hadn’t seen you sometime, you now provide me with many things that show me that your energy and love is still here!! We saw many things in the same light when it came to people, animals and the environment. For the ones that we did not, you opened my eyes and gave them the benefit of the doubt. I know that adolescence and the divorce took me in other directions, confused with my own interests, but my bond with you was and is always there!!! I have so many memories that I now love to share with those that did not know you prior the to refuge. Back then, it was just you, me and the occasional bird or furry creature. God rest Donna, but she thought mostly of it as simply being cool! I remember the endless nights in the freezing cold water of the lake fishing for minnows and the little turtle that came looking for us to feed him. The bread was to be for the minnows and I often wondered where he was during the day until he popped up that evening drawn by the flashlight again and trust. I could only hope that he grew big and strong and is now one of the heads that make an unexpected appearance at the end of the dock at the end of each day as I watched the sunset and cried for our loss. I remember the poor pelican that had fishing line wrapped around it’s bill and you insisted that we get in the paddleboat, yes, a paddleboat in the middle of the night, after Dad went to bed, searching with flashlights over the entire lake for him, without life jackets and knowing that you could not swim. I remember the heartbreaking disappointment when we found out from a neighbor that he had washed up dead on their beach over the next several days. So many memories Mom, Mischief, the red winged blackbird we brought home as a fledgling, who grew to become the lord of the house until he flew out the door for the last time, yet raising his babies and their babies to this day in that yard. Katie the raccoon who destroyed every silk flower arrangement in the house, her nightly slice of lemon crème pie and keeping me awake at night as she listened to the raccoons chattering away in the vacant lot next to the house. It was then that we realized nothing wild should be contained if they were able to go free. For Katie, it was too late and we paid dearly for that decision by letting someone else care for her while we were on vacation and the trust we had instilled in her regarding people and pets. Then there was Suzy the duck, remember how ugly she was at the time we got her, no feathers and how quickly she sank and almost drowned, to the bottom of the tub like a rock because we knew nothing about needing the oils she lacked in her feathers! But, as with everything, you saw the beauty in her and with your endless love, nurturing and yearning for knowledge, she became the most beautiful mallard ever and the happiest to go free! So many, many, many memories and love you have taught me. You were and always will be, my rock! You always provided me an endless positive spin on just about anything, no matter what you were going thru personally! Now, that strength and unconditional love you shared with not only me, but so many, is missed far greater than I think you could ever have imagined!! You were truly one in a million and I know first hand, as your son, just how hard it was for you at times to stand as strong as you did, even if no one else noticed. Yet, you moved forward and never looked back as you would wish for us all to do around this time of year from now on. And before I move on, I would again like to say Thank you in that I will never forget our final trip together to the Black Hills of South Dakota in 2001 and those awesome nights we sat in the park! Well after midnight, listening to Mirabal, looking at the stars just beyond our fingertips, It was then that I finally realized what it was that drew you to the Dakotas, the Badlands and Native Americans. They were always a part of our lives as we grew up in that you couldn’t wait to go to Cherokee (please don't go back in that it is so commercialized and sad) every year with the family. Thanks to you , I now have my baby moccasins that Uncle John sent from Colorado when I was born. They are in awesome shape, almost new, not liked I walked much at 6months, but I will always hold them dear as you had over the last 40+ years. You saved so many incredible things that reminded me of our life as a family and then as your life as a literal "Mother of Nature" caring for all those that could not speak for themselves and I am forever grateful that you left them to me. I can only hope to gather them together and share them in a way that will bring your message that “We are all related” . Hopefully this will inspire everyone to follow their true heartfelt dreams and recognize just how important it is to respect each other, our Earth, its wildlife and the environment.
Well, I know that you are busy, saving or holding, someone or something, dear that cannot fend for themselves, with a kiss on the forehead or one of those killer hugs, reminding them that they are safe, even if it is during their last breath. So I will let you fly! I just wanted to let you know that like soooo many at this time, are missing you and that although you wouldn’t a fuss on August 31st, we will gather for the last time at the address known as the one of hope one last time.
Please, if you can, put in a good word and provide us with one of those amazing sunsets you loved and photographed so often over the years. Although it is not the same, its walls vibrate with positive energy and your love. Upon my death one day, I can only hope to have positively touched as many lives as you have during your lifetime!
With all my heart Mom, I love and miss you terribly!
Your son, Bill
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your son, Bill Young
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