“But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
8 ask the plants of the earth,[a] and they will teach you,
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
9 Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?
10 In his hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of every human being.
Job 12:7-10 NRSVue
This weekend is the Great Backyard Bird Count and I decided I wouldn't write about it because I did note the Christmas Bird Count. Both are impressive exercises in citizen science with the invitation to count different species and submit the results. Then came the big winter storm in Southern Ontario that closed most churches but didn't stop the avian congregation at our feeders and heated bird bath. In the end there were 12 species coming and going constantly, an impressive number of disciples, all of them multiples.How do they survive through these storms?
We did get to a church yesterday, braving the elements to do our baked goods pickup at Metro for the Bridge St UC meal program. As we departed a rough looking guy waiting to enter offered "bless you", and that was meaningful. All-wheel drive is a gift from God...or Subaru.
The abundance of birds was a holy experience as well, in between toiling to remove snow. There was even a baptism. It's hard to imagine why the starlings would splash in the bird bath on such a cold day, but maybe they figured they were at the spa.
We loved it all. Please keep an eye out for birds this Family Day. Most of those birds are back today. Here is our feeder list:
Blue Jays, Cardinals, White & Rose-breasted Nuthatches. Mourning Doves, Chickadees, Downy & Hairy Woodpeckers, Goldfinches, House Finches, Juncos, Starlings.
4 comments:
That's a fantastic count! We have a heated drinking bowl/bath as well. (I'm sure you know about "Merlin" the birdwatching App from Cornell University. It's great for identification and also holds your personal cumulative list of birds complete with a picture and the location and date you saw the bird.)
Merlin is an excellent resource and a good reminder, Kathy. Thanks. There are other birds, including the red-bellied woodpecker, who put in cameo appearances at our feeders in winter, but not on Sunday.
My son has the same varieties of birds at his feeders... and they braved the wild storm on the weekend to come and feed, even in the worst of the snowfalls !
It's fascinating that the birds show up for a big feed as storms are about to arrive and they figure it out without the Weather Network! Thanks Judy.
Post a Comment