Birds

I first hung a bird feeder for my cats. They are indoor only cats, so it’s like cat tv for them. I knew we had eagles and hawks that fished the lake we live on, and crows and owls were in the neighborhood but I never paid much attention beyond that. I hung a feeder my beloved spouse’s co worker gave us and bought a bag of bird seed from home depot. It took a few days to see even one bird, but slowly we started to get some. I had no idea what they were called but I thought they were awfully cute. They were chickadees and juncos. A few months later I added a suet feeder, and we started getting cute little woodpeckers too. A few more months, and another feeder plus two nyjer seed sock feeders and we have a bunch of pine siskins, and a veritable flock of both chickadees and juncos, regular red winged black birds, nuthatches, and even a flicker showed up a few days ago. I tried a humming bird feeder, and although I loved seeing the cute little anna hummingbird, it was too much work so I took it down. I LOVE seeing the birds. Maybe more than my cats do! I was never a bird person before, but my chronic illness was forced me to slow down and to deeply appreciate life. Bird are such lovely delicate creatures. They are ephemeral and sweet. You cannot hold them. Temporary and fleeting, you can only appreciate them from afar. You can gently and indirectly encourage them to come near, but you can’t make them. Providing foods they like, and water, in places that are safe, and patiently waiting. Great metaphor, really, for healing from chronic illness, for life.