Migrations, Peregrinations, & Pilgrimages

 

 “Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars
    and spreads its wings toward the south?
27 Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up
    and makes its nest on high?
28 It lives on the rock and makes its home
    in the fastness of the rocky crag.

               Job 39: 26-28 NRSVue

Are you old enough to remember reruns on television? In days of yore, long before streaming services, there were TV networks that would show repeats of prime-time dramas through the summer while the shows were in hiatus.

I realized the other day that World Migratory Bird Day had come and gone (May 10th) and it got me thinking about a blog entry from a few years ago in which I mused about the remarkable seasonal journeys of birds and compared this phenomenon to human migrations and spiritual pilgrimages. 

Coincidentally, I've read two novels recently that include the migration of sandhill cranes from Nebraska to various points north as part of the plotline. When we lived in Northern Ontario I would make a detour from my monthly Presbytery meeting in Espanola during May and October to search out these remarkable birds as they staged in fields on the shore of Georgian Bay. It was much more of a spiritual experience than the meetings. Last June we saw sandhill cranes on Haida Gwaii off BC as well. 

This is the theme for the Spring Migratory Bird Day --there is another in the Fall-- and beneath it is the blog I wrote in 2022, my version of the rerun. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that we have experienced the same migrating birds during this May despite it being the coldest in nearly 60 years. 

World Migratory Bird Day is a special day to celebrate these incredible birds and help protect them. This year, we’re focusing on making our cities, villages, towns, and communities, from rural to urban, more bird-friendly. In 2025, WMBD will raise awareness about the many challenges migratory birds face due to human activities and expanding urban development. The campaign will advocate for strategic urban planning and conservation efforts that incorporate bird-friendly practices, making sure that our communities become havens for these remarkable travelers. The 2025 theme encourages action from all sectors, including national and local governments, businesses, community groups, and individuals worldwide.

Sunday, May 15, 2022 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.