Spring has arrived in our neck of the MI woods, with daytime temps now passing the 50 degree mark. Although there are no green leaves or flars blooming yet, the birds are in full voice.
I’ve twice had the opportunity at our previous home to see an Indigo Bunting picking up seeds on the ground under the feeder. Twice I happened to look up and see outside my study window a tiny vivid burst of life in deep turquoise blue, showing up for his sustenance and my delight. Both times, he arrived in the golden hour at the close of a spring day when the tops of the trees were lit with the light from the setting sun. Innagadadavida that time, known as the cool of the day, was when the Creator would walk through his creation and commune with the creatures there.
When I looked online for pictures to post with this, none of them captured or conveyed the glowing jewel-like beauty of the indigo bunting I hold in my mind’s eye. I wondered after reading the poem below, if I’ll ever have the opportunity to see one again, now that we’ve moved? Then I wondered, how many sightings would be enough?
Mary’s Aviary by Philip Kolin
Mary surely kept birds
Her life is chronicled
In their singing--
Doves wooing at the beginning
Sparrows tearing afterwards
Gabriel brought her more
Than smooth words soft as dawn
On his shoulders sat
The glory of the sky
An indigo bunting
Wailing blues to the Queen
In Baroque frescoes
Birds fan mother and child
As escadrille of feathers and breezes
Giving the air color and the earth air
Throughout Nazareth flocks
Of lauding hummingbird
And vespering nightingales
Navigated the prophecies of her life
The hour she ascended
Into the scrim of gentle clouds
The bird of this world flew into the east
Until they became like angels
Whose wings feast on fire
7 comments:
Excellent post, MamaM. I am struck dumb.
But regaining my voice a bit, the birds I like to see yet see way too seldom are goldfinches. What a treat it is to see one flashing by in the sun.
Psst.
Psst.
*whispers* Nazareth doesn't have hummingbirds.
Sixty: Plant some thistles. Goldfinches love thistles.
The flight of a goldfinch is as cheering to see as its color.
I had to google a pic of Indigo Bunting to see what they look like and they are very pretty birds. I'm surprised they and other fun to watch birds can survive. I put out food for them and they're often chased away by blackbirds.
"Goldfinches love thistles."
They also love coneflower heads in the fall. I practically have an invasion of goldfinches after my coneflowers (no gardening skills required at all, they're hardy as weeds) have dropped their petals. So you get the prettiness of purple coneflowers followed by goldfinches. A win win.
No hummingbirds in Nazareth?
Without this poem, the number of people who've seen much less envisioned a blues singing bunting perched atop an archangel's shoulder probably comes close to the number of child-bearing virgins.
With this poem, I was granted opportunity for a third sighting, if only in my minds eye.
Found this too: Many migrate across Gulf of Mexico in both spring and fall. Migrates at night, and can navigate by the stars. Important studies of bird navigation and migration have involved this species.
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