One is NOT Only

I have two bird feeders hanging on a large double hook in my back yard.  I like to sit at my desk  in my sunroom and watch them through the windows. Cardinals, blue jays, finches, tanagers,  robins and even a wood pecker-a whole birdie community.  I am in the process of doing a bird personality study…there are the patient birds waiting on a branch until there is an open space and they fly down, peck a few times and go back to the branch. There are the cardinals that only eat from the big fancy feeder. I expected the blue jays to be more aggressive, but surprisingly I have yet to see a blue jay zooming in and running off the other birds, they actually spend  a lot of time on the ground cleaning up. Then there is Mr. Robin Redbreast. I have always liked robins-so pretty and just a nice all round backyard bird. Not this robin! Mr. RR comes zooming in flapping his wings and runs off the other birds at the feeder and even flies around chasing other birds away as they try to land “my feeder, my seeds, what happens if the food runs out? how will  I

eat? where did all these other birds come from?, this is my yard- mine mine mine!” Mr. Robin seems to say.  I have become adept at reading bird minds too!

I don’t know how to speak bird yet though. I have tried to show my fine feathered friends how much I care about their needs.  I like all the birds-each so unique and beautiful in their own birdie way. I even got the super duper sized feeder that holds lots of food so they don’t run out. There are 2 huge bags of bird food blends in my house just waiting for when the bird feeder is empty-but the birds don’t see that-they only see what is right in front of them. I go into Birds Unlimited and ask about what the “best” bird food is to make sure my birds aren’t eating junk food blend. I have yet to see the Robins Only Blend.

Most of the birds seem fine and content- the feeders are still over half full and there are seeds all over my yard, but not Mr. Robin -he has appointed himself mayor and police chief of my bird feeders. He seems sure that once that bird feeder is empty it will never be filled again.

Hmmm….which bird am I? I asked myself that this morning…I think I know.

Time for me to quit squawking, reacting from fear of lack and feast on a healing dose of Mother Teresa’s wisdom:

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.

**Thank you to my friend, the amazing artist, Doris Wasserman for allowing me to use her beautiful art work with my blog. Her Bird Series makes me think she does read bird minds! Doris continues to inspire me with her growth as an artist which reflects so much of who she is in her beautiful soul. When she told me she grew up near a historic petroglyphs site in Canada I saw her work in a whole new way! You can learn more about her and see more of her work at her website:  https://www.doriswasserman.com/  

©  Michelle Campanis 2018