What a difference a day can make this time of year! In the view from my window this morning it was snow that captivated me, not Northern Shoveler ducks.
Though I wonder where the ducks went. Three of them stayed in the pond all day yesterday dabbling and circling even through the falling snow. But the pond is iced over this morning. So I’m
Still Wondering
where they went to shelter last night. And where are they now? Are they heading south as fast as they can? Wild birds endure all sorts of weather and many still survive and thrive. They own no possessions. And instinctively know when to migrate south in the fall, north in the spring. We humans could perhaps learn a few lessons about living from our wild winged neighbors.
Though I usually don’t like starlings I do love to watch their mumerations. For a minute of wonder watch the video below. It makes my heart soar.
And here’s a poem by Mary Oliver about starlings that fits so well with the video above.
Starlings in Winter
Chunky and noisy,
but with stars in their black feathers,
they spring from the telephone wire
and instantly
they are acrobats
in the freezing wind.
And now, in the theater of air,
they swing over buildings,
dipping and rising;
they float like one stippled star
that opens,
becomes for a moment fragmented,
then closes again;
and you watch
and you try
but you simply can’t imagine
how they do it
with no articulated instruction, no pause,
only the silent confirmation
that they are this notable thing,
this wheel of many parts, that can rise and spin
over and over again,
full of gorgeous life.
Ah, world, what lessons you prepare for us,
even in the leafless winter,
even in the ashy city.
I am thinking now
of grief, and of getting past it;
I feel my boots
trying to leave the ground,
I feel my heart
pumping hard. I wantto think again of dangerous and noble things.
I want to be light and frolicsome.
I want to be improbable beautiful and afraid of nothing,
as though I had wings.— Mary Oliver
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