Are you for the birds?

The black cherry tree behind the house has finally reached peak color. In fact, most of the trees in the neighborhood are at that stage these days. Having blue skies and sunshine to go along with peak colors makes the world seem a prettier place than the dreary, damp, downpour-ridden days we've been experiencing. Although we're several days past this month's full moon, this morning, early, was the first time in a long while the cloud cover's been broken enough to see moonlight.

black cherry leaves near peak color

Photo by J. Harrington

The local blue jays are back. We rarely see them around the property during the Summer, but they're a relatively common sight during the Autumn, Winter and early Spring. Most of the feeders we use are hanging feeders, reported to not be among the jay's favorite. Since our cold season visitors are mostly business-like buffs, grays, and blacks (nuthatches and chickadees), blue jays, and cardinals, add splashes of welcome colors.

black-capped chickadee

Photo by J. Harrington

Speaking of chickadees, we have to admit that this week we discovered our knowledge has been woefully lacking. We thought there was only the black-capped chickadee and were truly upset when we read that climate change might cause them to move from Minnesota. It turns out, as we did a little research, that there's a separate species, the boreal chickadee. (We should have read the article more carefully when we encountered the phrase "Boreal species such as warblers and chickadees will suffer greater effects because they are specialists and less adaptable to changes in temperature and habitat....") The boreal chickadee is the one that Minnesota may lose to climate breakdown. (In the research effort, we also learned there's the carolina chickadee, the mountain chickadee, the mexican chickadee, the gray-headed chickadee, and the chestnut-backed chickadee.) Our Winter feeders just wouldn't be the same without the cheerful, black-capped visitors that flitter in and out with a beguiling frequency.

If you missed the stories about the loss, since 1970, of 3 billion birds or the Audubon Society's estimated impacts of climate breakdown on birds, you can follow the links in this sentence to either or both reports. First, many years ago, it was market hunting that triggered species loss of passenger pigeons and diminished populations of waterfowl and other avians. That was largely corrected with hunting regulations and the creation of wetland protection programs funded largely through taxes and firearms and ammunition and the sale of federal and state "duck stamps." Climate change and habitat loss are going to be more challenging to address. We've demonstrated we're capable of responding to these kinds of issues. The bigger question is, are we willing? What's a bird in the hand or two in the bush worth to us?

Birds Again

Jim Harrison - 1937-2016

A secret came a week ago though I already
knew it just beyond the bruised lips of consciousness.
The very alive souls of thirty-five hundred dead birds
are harbored in my body. It’s not uncomfortable.
I’m only temporary habitat for these not-quite-
weightless creatures. I offered a wordless invitation
and now they’re roosting within me, recalling
how I had watched them at night
in fall and spring passing across earth moons,
little clouds of black confetti, chattering and singing
on their way north or south. Now in my dreams
I see from the air the rumpled green and beige,
the watery face of earth as if they’re carrying
me rather than me carrying them. Next winter
I’ll release them near the estuary west of Alvarado
and south of Veracruz. I can see them perching
on undiscovered Olmec heads. We’ll say goodbye
and I’ll return my dreams to earth.

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Thanks for visiting. Come again when you can.
Please be kind to each other while you can.