Bird Feeder

For Christmas I bought Joan a new bird feeder to put on our window with suction cups. It’s stayed empty of birds (lots of seeds in it for over a month), until we bought another, more traditional one to put nearby. Now we have flocks.

Birds, you soon find out, do not “eat like a bird.” They go through a lot of seeds pretty quickly, demanding refills every few days. But it is a tiny bit of nature almost near enough to touch, the little sparrows and their cousins make us feel the world is a little better than we may be told by the media. 

Around here there are lots of crows, gulls, pigeons, jays, robins, hawks. I think the variety is less than it was 50 years ago. But I haven’t ever counted carefully.

The worst knowledge, for me, is not those birds around our house, but the realization that there are no safe havens left on Earth for almost any birds or other wildlife. As a kid I knew there were teaming jungles, undeveloped seashores, expansive ice shelves. Now, none of that is true. The havens diminish every year, but they are already probably too far gone. 

So as in so many nostalgic, eroding daily wonders, we accept the miracle of little feathered lives, and try not to think too hard about what may come. 

And of course, buy more food once again.