I always loved a good bird. One of the first additions when we moved to the childhood farm was a chicken coop and some chicks. After that, I was hooked. I sat in the coop for hours, listened to them cluck to one another and strut around, randomly pecking the floor and kicking straw aside with greatly exaggerated leg sweeps.
My close-to-home love expanded one spring morning when a million water fowl filled the skies south of our farm close to the Mississiawa River. I was at the house by myself and could hear a sound unlike anything I’ve ever heard before, or since.
I looked out the summer kitchen door to see what appeared to be a reverse tornado, a darkness in the sky slowly swirling downward. For a moment my teen mind flashed to the flying monkeys from The Wizard of Oz movie I’d seen so many times as a child. Awe quickly replaced fear when I realized the sight and sounds were birds of every kind gathering in the flooded fields.
I jumped on my bike and rode as fast as possible to the wood-edge. I waded through the trees to a field which looked more like a lake. I hid behind some bushes and watched thousands of ducks and geese swimming, bobbing, quacking, clucking, honking, and chasing one another. I gazed in silent amazement…until some eagle-eyed goose caught a movement and spooked. Instantly, every bird blasted out of the water and into the sky. They rose over a tree line and dropped gracefully into the next flooded field.
From that day on I’ve been on the hunt for birds of every kind in any and every location. Watching birds feeds my soul. It’s a simple thing, really. Birds fill the sky and so few people look up!
What is it that feeds your soul? For me, it’s spotting a life-bird for the first time. You might find renewal through knitting, gardening, exercise. What renews your heart? For me, it’s seeing hundreds of Sandhill Cranes flying at dizzying heights above our back yard. You might discover peace of mind through a good book, a warm cup of tea, or a crackling fire on the hearth.
Whatever ministers to your heart, mind and soul, I hope you can find time to indulge. And if nothing else, look up from time to time and catch a glimpse of a passing bird. It will make your day.
The Philippians 4:6 Life 