When you start bird watching, there is a type of awakening that occurs, an awareness that wasn't present beforehand.
First, you begin to see more birds than you ever noticed before. A robin bouncing across the lawn. A phoebe perched on a fence post. You ask yourself if there were always this many birds in the neighborhood.
Second, you hear the birdsong. The chirp of a hummingbird outside the kitchen window. The melody of a warbler in a magnolia tree. A purple finch singing her nest song.
Small miracles begin to occur. You step out on the porch one night in time to see a barn owl glide silently over the roof top. In March, when the cedar waxwings should be long gone, you spot a flock in your neighbor’s tree, and the miracle isn't that they are still hanging around, it’s that earlier in the day you wished you could see them one more time before the arrival of spring. And there they were.
You open to the possibility of miracles in other areas of your life, catching more and more glimpses of beauty throughout the day.
Life becomes less ordinary, less habitual. Possibilities exist everywhere. Little winged jewels emerge.
You wonder, what else have I not been seeing?
And you begin to look with new eyes.
And you begin to see.
17 comments:
Such a beautiful post!
How true. Wonderful pictures!
Love all of the birds. We are still waiting on our hummingbirds, but thought we saw a scout yesterday. I have a new batch of cardinals and yesterday counted twenty one in the yard. We have a race each year for the fruit on the trees. Happy spring to you too.
Have a great week.
Warmly,
Tracey
Oh yes yes yes!
There's my long earred owl...ooo!
It is that way when you open your eyes..you see beauty in the smallest places
I started as a birdwatcher..then came the garden
Your lovely new place is perfect for living and for the birds..Isn't is fabulous to witness an owl flying..so quiet
Life is these little things
Sweet tweet:) Have a blessed day, HUGS!
Love your photos! The birds on the wires put me in mind of notes on a sheet of music :)
man, can i be where you are? all i see out my window is white!!
You see great birds! Love the flowering tree too...Nice photos!
Warmly,
deb
Love the photo of the birds on a wire!
Hmmm...makes me wonder what I've been missing too, by not paying attention.
Beautiful post - beautiful photos!
I love this! What a beautiful post!
Beautiful photos Stacy! I need to birdwatch more -- I'm waiting for my owl sighting!
Thank you for the beautiful post and photos. Makes my heart sing.
It's all snowy here, still, and I can't wait to hear the red-winged blackbirds: my "spring is here" song.
You would like my friend Sheri's blog. She is a bird watcher and picture taker as well.
She blogs at Today is Pretty: http://todayispretty.com/
What a wonderful post. I'm not a big bird watcher, but even having a bird feeder in the backyard has changed how I look at birds. Mostly, we only attracted wrens and sparrows at first, but now we have lots of chick-a-dees and morning doves, which I love. None of them are very exotic, but still fun.
Nice post.
Hope your weekend was lots of fun.
The last four days have been wonderful on SF with Keoni and his friend visiting us.
Have a great week with lots of joy.
Hugs, Dogwood
Lovely post...so well said!!!
I've never become or joined a bird watching group, but have just naturally been curious and aware of them. Yesterday, I looked out to see a hummingbird sipping the rosemary bush blossoms and on my walk in the park, a bald eagle swooped over the lake. Didn't get the chance to get such lovely pictures as you did. Cool.
Post a Comment