Feathered Friends

Here is my next photo/essay in my project series of photos and essays (#6)…

Feathered Friends

As a child growing up on an Iowa farm I was surrounded by animals. Our farm had milk cows, chickens, ducks, hogs, and cattle. Because both my parents worked so hard caring for all the animals, crops, and large garden they didn’t really pay much attention to the birds. But I did. Even then I loved birds and thought of them as my friends. I remember seeing lots of red-headed woodpeckers in the trees in our grove. Birds were a constant in my childhood though I recognized only the very common birds in our area.

I can’t remember the last time I saw a red-headed woodpecker, certainly not in the last 20 years. I feel terribly sad when I think of all the species of birds and other creatures that are declining in numbers, threatened, or extinct. Though I haven’t noticed a decrease in the birds in our area, I fear that they too are being impacted negatively by climate change and environmental pollution.

Garden of Delight

It wasn’t until I was an adult that I became interested in bird watching. I’m not the life list kind of birder. Instead, I’m the “Oh wow, that bird is so beautiful!” kind of birder. A few years ago I put up two bird feeders outside my office window. This is one of the best gifts I ever gave myself. I love watching all my feathered friends coming for food. In addition to the birds I often see gray squirrels, chipmunks, and little red squirrels on the ground beneath the feeders. Having such a close view of wild creatures delights me.

Nobody owns the hearts of birds.
― Mary Oliver, Red Bird

I also hang up a hummingbird feeder every summer and love watching feisty fast-moving tiny ruby throated hummingbirds through my kitchen window.

Mountain Rambles

When I was living in Idaho in the early 1980’s I went on an Audubon bird hike in the mountains. The man leading the hike was in his early 70’s. He could out-hike any of us in the group (all of whom were much younger than him). On our long mountain hike I got to see a mountain bluebird and pileated woodpecker, my first time seeing these species.

When we stopped for lunch at the mountain cabin of our guide’s family I saw more hummingbirds than I ever thought possible. His family had put up countless hummingbird feeders and hummingbirds buzzed acrobatically through the air, back and forth, from feeder to feeder. There were at least three species of hummingbirds there that day. I think that was the first time that I felt my heart lift with complete wonder and amazement at the miracle of birds.

My heart continues to lift every time I see birds winging overhead. Yesterday as I drove home I saw a bald eagle take off from a tree beside the road and soar back and forth over the road where I drove, it’s white tail flashing like a beacon on an overcast gray day. As I watched it (and tried very had to drive safely at the same time) I felt as if my heart was soaring high in the sky along with the eagle.

Through my Windows

I am blessed to be able to watch many birds through the windows of my house. There is a pond directly behind our house that is often filled with ducks in the springtime — wood ducks and mallards always, and sometimes migrating hooded mergansers, northern shoveller ducks, and blue winged teal have visited the pond. We usually see one or two families of ducklings in the pond each spring.

Other birds like egrets, great blue herons, green herons, hawks, and owls also visit the pond. The photo at the beginning of this essay is of a juvenile great blue heron on a log at the edge of our pond. I spend a lot of time watching the many winged visitors that are drawn to the pond. The birds stay sometimes for an hour, a day or more, and even the entire breeding season. However short the visit, I always feel as if I’ve received a gift from their presence there.

Captivating Cacophony

A number of years ago my husband and I went to see trumpeter Swans on the Mississippi river in Monticello, Minnesota. There, a woman began feeding them during the winter many years ago when there were almost no Trumpeter swans left in Minnesota. I was gob-smacked by these huge, noisy, amazingly beautiful birds and fell in love with them. The cacophony of hundreds of swans honking, the beauty of them soaring overhead, and the grace of their beautiful feathered bodies fills me with joy.

Trumpeter swans were once thought to be completely gone from Minnesota. Because of the assistance this one woman gave to these magnificent birds over the course of many years along with the DNR’s Trumpeter swan breeding program, the trumpeter swan population has rebounded in Minnesota. It’s a reminder to me of how much one person can do to change things for the positive by simply doing what one believes in.

This past summer I saw a pair of trumpeter swans with a nest at a nearby park. I was able to visit and photograph them and their five cygnets, after they hatched, all summer long. The last time I visited them there were only four remaining cygnets. They were adult-sized. I watched them preen and flutter their wings knowing that it would soon be time for them to leave. This past week I went for one more walk at the park (in mid-November). It was clear that the swan family had moved on, probably beginning their migration south or to warmer open water for the winter months.

Migration Wonders

Have you ever thought about how birds navigate on their yearly migrations? For me, it’s another reminder of the intelligence of animals that we humans rarely recognize.

Many years ago my husband and I traveled to Kearney, Nebraska to see and photograph the spring migration of sandhill cranes. Just hearing their loud honking overhead made me smile. But watching them all take to air from the Platte River where they rested at night took my breath away. Watching birds soar through the sky, lifts me up and makes me feel part of something holy and whole. Hearing the magnificent cacophony of trumpeter swans and sandhill cranes always delights me and makes me laugh. Imagine, if you will, a world without birds. Wouldn’t it be sad to live in that world?

Do you also enjoy watching our feathered friends?

May you walk in beauty.