A travesty. What an awful neighborhood – Photo: L. Weikel
Lest There Be Any Doubt
Lest there be any doubt as to why certain feathered friends might want to move to new digs, perchance at the aforementioned Woodpecker Condominiums, cast your visages upon this disgraceful excuse for a birdfeeder found in the environs of the home of the caretaker of this blog.
It’s a disgrace.
Indeed, it’s no wonder the blog used to call itself ‘Ruffled Feathers.’ My feathers are ruffled indeed.
Yes, I hear talk of a ‘pandemic’ sweeping the lives of the two-leggeds that live near and far. And my sympathies, such as they are, go out to these sad creatures who don’t seem to appreciate the finer qualities of remaining in one’s nest until the predators (seen or unseen) are no longer a threat. And when they must venture outside of their nests, why do they carry on so about keeping their gaping maws (so disgustingly unseemly compared to the noble beak) discreetly hidden from view or risk infection of themselves or others?
No Excuse
In all seriousness, I understand there may be some resistances to dealing with the current hardships being inflicted upon the two-legged species. But for the love of all that is holy (and we peckers do love holes, so I know from whence I speak), there is no excuse for allowing the seed required for not only the robust reproductive vigor of those of us in mature feather, but also the developing young hatchlings to dwindle to such an appalling level.
Plague or no plague, allowing the seed situation to dwindle to this level is wholly (there it is again – something I know a lot about!) unacceptable.
Alas, I will not be able to prove my worth to the Condo Board if I am weak with hunger. There is no way I will be able to peck enough grubs per minute without the supplemental sustenance I require.
I need to take this up with someone in power. If I could only locate one.
Resorting to Peanuts. Ridiculous – Photo: L. Weikel
Some of you may remember my semi-flip out back in September when suddenly all the birds not only went silent but actually left the premises. It was a long 20 days or so before they finally started returning, much to my huge relief. It’s possible, I suppose, that they all just suddenly discovered plentiful seeds and other treats somewhere else. But the abruptness and totality of their departure – and the similar abruptness of their return – just seemed kind of weird.
I do intend to pay attention this fall, to see if they make it into an annual habit.
Looking For Normal
This past week felt like I was trapped in a time warp. Every day I had to make a concerted effort to steady and ground myself – almost as if I’d awakened in the midst of an ocean and had to regain my sea legs before I could walk into the next room. But it wasn’t a physical wavering. It was a psychological one – or perhaps even deeper; perhaps an existential one.
So many assumptions and fundamental beliefs I’ve held about our country and our ability to respond to any challenge – no matter how grave, how daunting, or how threatening – have been shattered this week. And the worst part about that? The worst part is knowing that it was completely avoidable. The worst part is knowing that our lack of preparation and ability to respond (responsibility) was facilitated by the deliberate obfuscation of those at the highest levels of our government.
And people are starting to get sick and die in numbers that grow exponentially, daily, as a result.
So? Having no real power to effect meaningful change until Election Day, I need to look for normal amidst the chaos. Looking for normal yesterday afternoon meant feeding my birds.
Everyday Joy
The temperature outside climbed to 78 degrees yesterday. Needing to ground myself and reconnect to what’s real and sustainable, I found myself sitting on my porch in the sunshine, reveling in birdsong. For a precious few minutes, I was able to wrap myself in a cocoon of delight as I listened to the robins and the fish crows trill and grok, respectively. I watched both two red shouldered woodpeckers and a downy cling to my front feeder and push around a chickadee, then heard but could not see-to-save-my-life the producer of the unmistakable, heavy-billed <<thwacking>> of a pileated just beyond the garage.
I watched goldfinches, house finches, sparrows and wrens flit and flutter amongst the shelter of the carcass of our Christmas tree, which we prop against one of the maples in our yard each year to give them additional cover from the sharp-shinned and red-tailed hawks that patrol the area. Nuthatches marched upside down on the maples and I even glimpsed either a blue bird or an indigo bunting before it disappeared into the thicket along our driveway.
My effort to reclaim normal consisted of the measured, meditative act of filling our birdfeeders and feeding the birds.
Pandemic Partners
I hope I’ll be able to keep my feeders filled over the coming months. The joy and sense of connection with All Life that birds give me is abundantly healing and centering. I recently came across this great article with excellent tips on how to make our yards welcoming, safe, and enticing to these wonderful creatures. It affirmed why Karl and I are so lucky to have so many feathered friends sharing this land we call home.
So many of the suggestions in this article are sound common sense, but they’re also little ways of changing our relationship with birds and Mother Earth that help bring us into balance with Her.
And ultimately, as we make our way through the devastation of this pandemic, coming back into balance with Mother Earth will be key. Celebrating and appreciating our birds can remind us of that.
What a reprieve today brought from the overwhelm I was feeling last night.
The exquisite late October weather made my heart sing. Deep robin’s egg blue sky provided the perfect backdrop to the brilliant golds, oranges, and crimsons of the maple trees in our yard.
Because I was lucky enough to work from home today, I sat outside on our porch and drank in nature’s swan song while I pecked away at my laptop.
Babies and Birdsong
Well, maybe not babies per se, but certainly fledglings suddenly appeared in the maple closest to our feeders. Their voices filled the air, which has been most unsettlingly quiet for far too long.
What was this? How odd. Why did what appeared to be an entire goldfinch family suddenly show up just this morning? Where had they been up until now? Not sitting on a nest for weeks at a time, surely? And yet here they were, acting as if they’d been here the whole time.
It doesn’t make sense. Are these birds gaslighting me? Ha ha; no, I’m sure not.
But it does bring joy to my heart to witness these babies (ok, fledges) fluttering their wings, seeming to tremble on the branch, while demanding that the mommy or daddy bird fill its beak with tasty morsels. These goldfinches most definitely were a family.
Where Are the House Finches?
But that does lead me to wonder what happened to the two dozen or more house finches that preyed on our feeders during the summer. I didn’t see a single house finch today (and haven’t since late September), and that, too, is unsettling.
Other Residents Returning
Another delight today, though, was that the blue jays returned in a seemingly strong show of force and presence. Four of them! And they resumed their nearly clocklike precision in back and forth flights carrying peanuts to their nests. Which again – begs the question: where have they been for the past month? Vacation?
Finally, two red shouldered woodpeckers graced the feeders today, a male and a female. Or a male and a juvenile, I’m not quite sure.
Silhouette of red shouldered woodpecker – Photo: L. Weikel
I did the best I could trying to snatch their photos, but the blue jays were both egregiously bold and frustratingly savvy. It didn’t matter how stealthily I moved my hand to my phone, or my phone off my lap. Those blue jays, often with a peanut hanging out the side of their beak like an old fashioned stogey, picked up on my effort immediately and took off. They were back within moments, having delivered their bounty (and they do always make it seem as though they’re stealing the peanuts, even though I provide them willingly) and determined to retrieve even more.
Blue jay butt – Photo: L. Weikel
As a result of their belligerent refusal to be caught red-beaked in the act, though, I only managed to get a shot of one of them from behind. A most unsatisfactory photo, I’ll admit, for they are actually stunningly lovely creatures. I adore their coloring and their sassy attitudes.
Maybe I’ll catch them on camera tomorrow.
Message of Goldfinch
Finally, I looked up Goldfinch in my Animal Speak* book (by Ted Andrews), and I find the anomaly from what is said there to be the interesting consideration today.
Goldfinch’s “Keynote” is: Awakening to the Nature Spirits and its Cycle of Power is the summer solstice and the summer season.
Clearly, it is not Goldfinch’s power time right now. Yet here they are; the ones indicating a potential return to normalcy.
Fairies, Elves, and Devas
“Black and yellow are the colors of the archangel Auriel. These colors in meditation and ritual are used to invoke that aspect of this being that oversees the activity of nature spirits – the faeries, elves, and devas. The high point of activity of nature is during the summer, its highest point being at the solstice itself.
The presence of goldfinches usually indicates an awakening to the activities of those beings that are normally relegated to the realm of fiction. Goldfinch can help you to deepen your perceptions so that you can begin to see and experience the activities of the nature spirits yourself This deepening of perceptions is reflected in the black cap – awakening to that which is normally hidden from view.
Goldfinches are usually permanent residents, and in those areas where they are found, you can also find the faeries and the elves. Goldfinches like border areas and young brush growth found at edges and borders. Edges and borders are intersections where there are natural doorways to that other realm of life.
Even their nesting habits reflects this link to the border areas, the ‘Tween Places. They build their nests in a fork on an outer branch high in a tree. It is usually made of thistledown. Thistle has a long association with nature spirits and the healing aspects of animals. Blessed thistle was once used to invoke the god Pan. Thistle has been a symbol of endurance. It is through endurance and persistence that we can open to the Realm of Faerie once more. Goldfinches are birds that can help us connect with those nature spirits that can show us how to heal animals – wild and domestic.
Goldfinches are rarely silent. This in itself is a reminder that Nature is speaking to us constantly and that we should learn to listen and communicate with it from all levels. It reflects that the nature spirits are around us at all times.” (emphasis added)
All of this makes me wonder: have all the birds been at a conference of Nature Spirits? Have they been communing with each other to perhaps figure out how to recalibrate their balance? To somehow counter the imbalance that we humans are bringing to nature, particularly recently? Maybe they are trying to figure out how to help us cultivate our endurance and persistence for the times we’re facing – the ones causing the feeling of overwhelm I mentioned yesterday.
It makes me wonder if there is any connection between the birds going on hiatus and the nature balancing I’ve been engaging in with the Essence of Perelandra on the 1stof each month.
