The Birds

have landed in my heart

Eastern Bluebird

I remember a movie with this title that scared the bejeezus out of me when I was young. 😳 Were those Crows lined up en masse on the telephone poles and spilling out of the fireplace?

I finally got around to putting up some bird feeders this winter and couldn’t help but reflect on my early fear of birds, thanks to Alfred Hitchcock. When I say I was young, I have no idea what age that was. I could have been ten or twenty. The movie freaked me out so much that I didn’t even want to go searching to research anything about it.

But, BTW, I love Crows now…

I believe there is a very good reason that crows are found everywhere. Traditionally, they were symbolic of magic. They squawk and call out to everyone. This should remind you constantly that magic is around you at all times, just calling out for you to use it within your own life.

— Ted Andrews - “Animal Speak: The Spiritual & Magical Powers of Creatures Great and Small”

A late winter storm brought The Birds out in droves, but they were mostly wee ones. It was then that I learned that some birds are ground feeders, like the little Juncos, the squawking Blue Jays, and the gentle Mourning Doves.

Those three birds, by the way, would be perfect examples if I were to be writing about Ayurveda and the doshas.

Actually, I’m going to substitute Hummingbird for Junco as a perfect representative of Vata dosha. All birds, of course, represent the element of air, but Hummingbird wins the prize with his or her frenetic energy - much like a highly Vata person. I am anxiously (pun intended) waiting for a Hummingbird to visit my new cute little feeder.

I’m choosing Blue Jay to represent Pitta dosha. The firey one. Blue Jays are highly intelligent, like Pitta humans, but can be aggressive with other birds. Even their sounds often have a loud demanding tone. I love them and fed them peanuts on my patio all winter. Did you know they’re in the same family as Crows and Ravens?

Last but not least, to represent Kapha dosha, the Mourning Dove. They are slow, gentle, and loving, like their Kapha human counterparts. Grounded. In fact, because of their slowness and groundedness, they are easy prey for both other animals and humans. :(

Related to Pigeon, you may remember my post where I introduced you to Clara, the Mourning Dove. I think she’s back, but I can’t know for sure if it’s her…

Birds are the bridge between humans and the divine, the Earth and Heaven. They are the symbols of transcendence, the rising above lower natures. Often times liberation from any state of being that is too fixed, final or immature is reflected through bird symbology and appearances.

Because of their ability to fly, they are associated with aspiration, flights of intuition, beauty, and levitation. Birds are a source of creative imagination, and they have the ability to awaken within us our own flights of magic.

Birds are the primary symbols for the Initiation of Air. This initiation reflects a period in which you begin to open to higher knowledge and wisdom, with an increased ability and opportunity to use it to raise yourself up. The Initiation of Air is the learning to open more fully to divine ideas, ideas that link normal consciousness to the universal. It speaks of opportunity to develop and manifest the highest forms of intuition. If left undeveloped, it will manifest in lower forms of psychism. The Initiation of Air is the opening to realms beyond physical time and space.

—Ted Andrews: “Animal Speak: The Spiritual & Magical Powers of Creatures Great and Small”

For over three years, I’ve been driving by this sweet little bird store called Chick-A-Dee Station, making a mental note to stop in. When I finally did, I swooned. It's the cutest place ever.

Unbeknownst to me, there’s a whole lot of snarkiness on social media about feeding birds - well, wild animals in general.

The reasons stem from domestic cats killing the birds (I don’t have a cat and have never seen one around here) to the animals becoming dependent on the feeders.

Like most social media arguments, I’m choosing to ignore the naysayers. The birds certainly seemed to appreciate food during winter storms, and now that spring is here, the amount of joy that they have brought to me (not that it’s their responsibility) is endless. I like to think of it as a sort of reciprocity.

And now I get what all the fuss is about.

A quick internet search will reveal hundreds of articles about the healing power of birdsong.

I don’t doubt it.

@atmos on Instagram

This video is on the Chick-A-Dee Station website. See how many of these birds you can identify! I’m a rookie, but I’m sure there are lots of you out there who will know all of these songs.

I try not to be partial…they’re all special…but I do love the Goldfinches!

And almost every time I walk by Gone-Away Pond, I see and hear a Song Sparrow perched on the same tall branch of a bush nearby. I love them, too.

I’ve been absent from this newsletter for almost a month—in a state of inertia, which I realized is typical of me during early spring. It’s my most difficult seasonal transition by far, and this year, I’ve been trying to be kind to myself and not feel that pressure to create, doing instead a lot of Just Being.

There’s no shortage of ideas (I have many posts started in my Dashboard), but it’s the completion phase that has thrown me for a loop. Many days, I just want to crawl back into my winter cave with a good book. Lots of reading happening, but very little writing.

That being said, I recently realized that I have published 82 posts here since August of 2022! That is pretty incredible in my world. :)

So, thank you for your patience, especially if you’re a paid subscriber. I hope the inertia lifts soon. This has plagued me my entire life, and you would think, by now, that I would be okay with it. Check out some of my past posts if you’ve been pining for an email from me. :)

However, I have continued my almost daily long walks in the woods, which are now enriched by my newfound love of birdsong. I am getting to know their sweet songs and calls that mix so well with the quiet solitude.

Speaking of solitude, I recently found another Pond buried in the woods, surrounded by a bog. That adventure is certainly deserving of its own post, but here’s a sneak peek photo. Isn’t she lovely?

In early April, I’d been messaging with a friend who knows a lot about birds. She told me that the Bluebirds had arrived here in New Hampshire. I had never seen a Bluebird, if you can believe that. Well, just days later, I was standing on the boardwalk in the Wildlife Sanctuary across the road when this little guy landed right next to me. He was kind enough to stay there until I slowly drew my phone out to take a photo.

Exactly one week later, the stunning Bluebird in the photo at the top of this post came to my yard and stayed for the longest time.

I had just seen the sweetest birdhouses on Instagram made by Nick at Sacred Nectar Sanctuary, which is a wonderful place a few miles down the road.

@sacrednectarsanctuary on Instagram

I bought three, and Nick kindly came over and put them up for me. I’m patiently waiting for families to move in.

If you need a birdhouse, these are beautifully crafted and made with love. Just give Nick a call.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my Turkey visitors, who have been coming almost daily to share the seeds and nuts on the ground under the feeder. Talk about reciprocity…treats for them and a dent in the tick population in my yard because they evidently find them delicious.

If you’ve never seen a Turkey take flight, it’s quite a sight to behold. At night, they sleep up in trees.

Front…

And back…

Well, what better way to end this post than with this poem by Mary Oliver? It came to me quite serendipitously this morning when someone read it before a class on bird language that I was about to listen to.

“What Gorgeous Thing” by Mary Oliver

I do not know what gorgeous thing
the bluebird keeps saying,
his voice easing out of his throat,
beak, body into the pink air
of the early morning. I like it
whatever it is. Sometimes
it seems the only thing in the world
that is without dark thoughts.
Sometimes it seems the only thing
in the world that is without
questions that can’t and probably
never will be answered, the
only thing that is entirely content
with the pink, then clear white
morning and, gratefully, says so.

Much Love,
Barbara

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