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BetterBirds - Winter Newsletter

The cold November frost sits like a silver blanket covering the grass in my backyard. I sit in my kitchen with a warm tea staring out at the birdfeeder and the corn field that lies beyond. It is early morning and dawn has just broken the night sky. Day slowly starts to melt away the cold night and the activity at the feeder starts to pick up. I am again reminded of the term, “the early bird...”. 

 I stare out of the window as if in a state of suspended animation admiring the chickadees darting about, grabbing sunflower seeds, and taking them up to the security of a high branch to crack the shell. The Hairy Woodpecker is back and busy pecking away at the suet. A nuthatch has joined the foray, as has the American Goldfinch, whose bright yellow colors have faded away to a dull, almost brown.

This peaceful moment seems too good to be true. My 10 month old is now climbing up my pyjama leg, and my 3 ½ year old is looking for new ways to torment his little brother. The moment is gone, and life with two little ones literally pulls me back to reality.

It is the moments that make up the day, all knitted together, that create the ambiance of our existence. When I first moved to my house in a little hamlet, and put up a bird feeder, there was little activity. However, after a few days the birds started to make homage to my backyard. Now I enjoy the wonder of life outside my window year round. I feel that I would be missing something, perhaps a connection with my human ties to nature, if I did not have this interaction, this bond, with one of the earth’s prehistoric creatures...the bird.

I am amazed and awed by the seemingly endless and repetitive motion of the birds. It brings me back to my primal being, much the same way as the mesmerizing hypnotic lure of a bonfire under the stars. The journey of life is challenging at the best of times. I feel the opportunity to pause and gaze out my window at the birds swirling around my feeder is a gift that Mother Nature unselfishly offers, and one that I am grateful to accept.