Migratory Birds & Human Peregrinations

 Yesterday we sat on our deck and watched as hummingbirds came to a feeder. It was  a wondrous sight for us geezers, as was the arrival at the same feeder by a Baltimore oriole several hours later while we were doing yard work. To top it all off a rose-breasted grosbeak showed up at another feeder later on. None of these species hang around for the summer at our place. They are on their way to an unknown destination for a summer of raising young before heading south in the Fall. 

It was fitting that yesterday was World Migratory Bird Day. We literally caught birds in the act of migrating to their seasonal homes. You may have heard the word "peregrination" to describe a journey, often on foot, sometimes purposeful and sometimes a ramble. There is a bird called the peregrine falcon and the name includes the notion of journey. If you search the word "peregrination" you will likely get a defintion along the lines of " a journey made by a pilgrim, a pilgrimage." 

Humans have always been inclined to migrate and I've wondered if religious or spiritual pilgrimages such as the Camino or the Haj are related to that compulsion to be on the move. Pilgrimages have often been demanding and even dangerous journeys with the risk of getting lost along the way -- the pilgrimage to Jerusalem by Jesus' family when he was a boy comes to mind. 

Still, these peregrinations or pilgrimages can have a profound effect on those who undertake them. Our son Isaac walked the 800+ kilometres of the Camino across France and Spain for a month when he was nineteen and I know that this journey shaped his Christian life then and to the present day. 

We may never embark on an arduous physical migration/peregrination yet we can always be intentional about our spiritual journeys. And we can enjoy those intrepid migrating birds, mysteriously guided by magnetic fields or the stars or whatever it is that compells them. 

If you're interested in this year's Migratory Bird Day theme of light pollution check out this link:

https://www.worldmigratorybirdday.org/