Small delights can be gifts beyond measure. Our yard has long been a haven for sparrows, and we love them. More recently the gold finches have blessed us with their year long presence at the feeder. Several crows use the bird bath for a drink with dinner. That’s about it. We used to get quails but dogs and fences took care of that. Now and then a turkey struts through.
About two weeks ago we began to get morning and evening flights of western bluebirds flashing in for a bite at the feeder and quickly flashing away. Maybe western bluebirds are not special to you, but to us they are such amazing delights, sapphires on the wing. We sit at the kitchen table mesmerized by them. We have seen them before, rarely, but we have seen them, at a friend’s place up a nearby canyon. Never have we seen them in our area, or in our yard. Birding is not our thing. We are content to be hoteliers to sparrows, restauranteurs to finches and bartenders to crows. The squirrels and birds have reached a mutually satisfactory accommodation of each other. Even the dogs have managed to fit in, in their own barkey way. It’s all rather normal. And then the bluebirds came. These beautiful jewels of the air decorating our surroundings for a moment. What a gift!
KInd of silly isn’t it? So much of my writing addresses the difficult issues of human life, and then a little blue bird flits by and makes it all seem so trivial.
Beautiful essay of ornithophilia! Dr B
Thank you Bill