RandomBliss: The Birds!

The Gold Finches are back!
(We've been hearing them, but
they finally revealed themselves.)

Listening to: Dreaming of Italy from Oregon.

Today's Bliss Formula: Bliss is not in my teeth today; new wires = pain! Bliss may reside in the Advil bottle. And in more normal temperatures -- around 70 rather than the 50's we've been having.

I know most people adore spring because it means summer is coming, but we adore spring because it means the birds are coming. And lately...

This weekend, sitting in the backyard, I saw something out of the corner of my eye and thought to myself, "Wow, that is one big firefly!" And then, it hit me.

"Frog!" (My partner started being called "Frog" by her grandfather when she was two; it stuck.) "Frog! The hummingbird!"

Yes, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird was interested in our purple irises at the bottom of the yard. A few summers back, we think we had a family. Every morning around ten, they would come out -- about 8 of them.

About twenty minutes later, I looked up and who was flying over but the Great Blue Heron. Ever since our neighbors put in a pond with the usual big, bright fish, the Herons fly over our house almost every day -- looking for a snack, I would assume.

Yesterday evening, after hearing them for days but not finding them, the Gold Finches came out. And on her way home yesterday afternoon, riding her bike along the bluff that looks out over the bay, Frog saw a Baltimore Oriole, a precious sighting indeed as they are only here for a short time.

Our Peninsula makes us an excellent birding area; it's a major migratory zone and actually has six distinct ecological zones. Our house is about two miles from the lake, so we get some of the visitors as they pass out of the area.

And because we are one block from a city park, we attract and keep a lot of birds that I think we are privileged to see on a regular basis. My personal favorites are the hawks.

In particular, the Red-tailed Hawk. My love of birding started with this majestic raptor. I was sitting out back at a small table, and I looked up just in time to see a hawk come out of nowhere and swoop down on some Mourning Doves (whom I now refer to, affectionately, as "hawk pockets" -- go ahead, sing it!).

He stopped in mid-grab and looked me right in the eye and then took off with his dinner. I know that this is hard for some people, but I felt honored to witness such a moment. It was breathtaking.

(This is natural -- hawks have to eat. And if you're at all concerned for the prey, read Barbara Kingsolver's book Prodigal Summer to learn about the necessity of not just the prey for the predator but of the predator for the prey. It's all about balance.)

Since then, I am constantly coming in contact with the Red-tailed Hawk and so consider him one of my Totem Animals.

A Red-tailed Hawk is considered a rare totem in that it is one that you keep for your whole life. Other totems pass in and out of our lives, teaching us and moving on. The Red-tailed Hawk stays, and he is, of course, about seeing the larger picture. He brings the gift of vision. Hawk medicine is about seeing a better world and trying to show it to others.

So, pay attention to the birds in your life and look up their totem meaning; they may be trying to tell you something.