10/10/12
Delicious
autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about
the earth seeking the successive autumns. George Eliot
Our summer birds
must be in pursuit of a new season as well, because it’s awfully quiet around
here.
The flitting and
fighting of the hummingbirds at our window feeders ended last Wednesday. Nary a
one since then.
As I mentioned in
a "Scriptural Bird Watching" blog, I can gain much insight into life lessons
while just watching the “goings-on" of birds right outside our kitchen window.
BIRDS---providing a
visual “spread” as they come to our backyard to picnic. The feast has really
been ours. A feast of never ending chatter---going to miss it---even the jay’s
throaty mocking chatter, a raucous ole bird indeed.
Also going to miss…..
our robins easing us into the dawn as they search the yard near Grushkin’s
fence for fat worms. This week I’ve only seen one.
…..Resident red shouldered
hawk---who sits and patrols from the top of Grushkin’s fence and swoops and
scares (a striking terror, of sorts) our songirds. Sometimes the fleeing and scattering
ones fly right into our windows
Haven’t seen him either, though he did leave a trace of last night’s
dinner. Some feathers on the patio and clumps of them in the yard.
During the last
days of summer (which extends past the designated calendar date for our birds)
our patio resembled a big dining table for the birds (and squirrels) as gold
finches still flaunted their colors from atop the umbrella domed feeder,
woodpeckers lunched on squares of suet cakes in a little wooden house feeder
and carolina chickadees feasted at the cylindrical wired feeder while nearby hummers
were taking their last few sips, from their tubes that stick to our windows and
are filled with red “hubby” created nectar, before they left us for the winter.
Cardinals offered
the male’s brilliant red color, though I am drawn to the muted color of the
female with her contrasting orange beak---and both chattered and hopped on the wrought
iron table and chairs. A baby was hatched nearby this summer so we watched the
mom feed him seeds as if breaking them open on his beak. Though a male, he had
a dull coat---as he had yet to gain the brilliance of his manliness or the
height of his crest (but a prodigy, none the same) and his mom distinguished
herself, for me, as “queen of the moms” as I watched her care for him.
Nowadays I’m only
seeing ground feeding doves joining with squirrels as they dig in the grasses
weighted with seed that has fallen underneath the feeders---even the chipmunks
seem to fill their cheeky pouches there
At twilight the
cooing of the dove and the plaintive cry of the whippoorwills no longer blend
with the call of the crickets. The crickets are gone too. So quiet.
Most leave. Fewer
stay, even with our “buffet” of feeders. Where do they go? Peterson Field Guide
to Birds can give us answers as can National Geographic. But….who tells the
birds? The Bible gives us that answer---from the creation story in Genesis to Isaiah and
the reference from the OT book of Job and on in to Matthew in the NT.
7 But ask the animals, and they
will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; 8 or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or
let the fish in the sea inform you. 9 Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? (Job 12:7-9)
“Tell” in verse 7 is a Hebrew word that
translates as an explanation by way of illustration. In other words, look at
the birds. Study and learn from them. Don’t miss the life lessons God has for
you ---even if it comes from something as simple as bird watching.
I’ve enjoyed the
lessons and the pleasure of His creation, which brings so much activity and
“noise” to our yard.
I’m going to miss
it all---farewell, my fine feathered friends! You’ve been a great study!
