Birds Returning ... vw

 Must Mean Spring!

Well, the bad news first! I am not so happy to see the homecoming of the ~ dozen Starlings and a few House Sparrows (English Sparrows) but these species remind me of how similar they are to homo sapiens. They are very accomplished survivalists and they like to live concentrated in groups. They breed prolifically and they tolerate, and even benefit, from close proximity to hominids.

My “Home” House Sparrows (though I hate to generalize about species) are not very good nest builders. Their nests look like the dust bunnies under my bed except the building materials are larger. [Peterson’s Field Guide describes their nest as “a bulky mass”! 

My “home” Starlings amass in numbers, perching closely together to gang up on any flicker, blue bird or wren that might happen by looking for a nice cavity in our trees (or my house) in which to shelter themselves and/or their young. Peterson’s also defines them as “garrulous”! My starlings raise two clutches a year! I really don’t know about the sparrows.

LandGifts #5vw - "Nature's Food Bank", vw

 Land Gifts vw#5 – Nature’s Food Bank

             Today as I glanced out the kitchen window, a movement caught my eye. There they were, the makers of the tracks I‘d observed on the snow for the last 2 weeks! California Quail, approximately a dozen of them at the top of the lower orchard, running around on the new snow and thrusting their little heads down (while never mussing their curved head plumes) retrieving the food they had come for.

 I suddenly realized what was feeding them. Why, it was last year’s apple harvest which had been so plentiful, so late, and with so many small-sized fruits! I hadn’t picked many; just the biggest ones, disdaining the small ones. I was too busy with other priorities; too hot, too tired.

             Now, as I watched the busy cluster of these beautiful creatures, I felt my heart healing a small weight that I had been carrying since last fall’s abundant harvest (or should I say, my non-harvest?). Having been raised by my parents, both of whom were children of the depression and a pre-social-services government, I am deeply instilled in the moral imperative of not wasting food and fiber. I had been feeling somewhat guilty for leaving so much good food on the old apple tree.

     As I watched the quail families, I understood the lesson. I am forgiven for “wasting” these apples. Nature is compensating for my deficiencies and transforming my neglect into her own bounteous food bank. Our quail families were feasting on the apple seeds, the fallen grass seeds, and maybe even on the remaining shriveled fruit lying under and being softened by the snow.

 Again, the Land Gives!