Chickadees don’t give a rip about the stock market! That’s just one of many things I love about this wonderful little creature. So instead of sitting inside watching my retirement account fly away, I like to go outside and watch my favorite bird—a creature that owned this country long before Wall Street! They were with the starving Pilgrims their first year in the Plymouth Colony. They were around the campfires at Valley Forge. They were picking seeds amid the din of Gettysburg. They were sometimes handfed by Civilian Conservation Corps workers during the Great Depression. They watched FDR pondering his war decisions at Camp David (then called Shangri-la!). Daily they visit the trees around the lonely crash site of Flight 93. And there they are today in my now leaf-bare Juneberry tree.
I love chickadees because they live life with gusto. They’re small, fragile, and vulnerable—especially to the northern goshawk who loves to visit my birdfeeder every winter, pursuing sparrows and juncos into the shrubs with such vigor that snow cascades down on prowler and prey alike. After the threat has passed, which are the first to arrive back at the feeder? The chickadees—even while feathers are still flying! Their boldness is a wonder—a boldness my oldest son and I experienced at a camp a couple decades ago. Seeing a few of them in a pine tree nearby, I told Greg to pick a few peanut pieces out of his Snickers bar, place them in the palm of his hand, and walk slowly toward a low hanging bough. It was hardly a minute before one of the little birds landed on his hand to grab a treat. I had my camera with me, so I instructed Greg to hold really still so I could capture the event on film. Looking through the eyepiece, I saw one land again and then disappear before I could trip the shutter. But I held the camera still, thinking it would return soon—which it did, but not to my son’s hand: through the camera I saw Greg smiling and pointing toward me. I slowly lifted my head and found the bird perched on my telephoto lens! Neither of us will ever forget the joy of the wonderful feeling a human being has when he is trusted by vulnerable wild creatures.
Here’s my take on chickadees: Threats surround them everywhere. Most other birds outweigh them dramatically. If they had to stop and worry about all the risks and threats, life would be miserable for them; so they seem to say, “Darn the goshawks. Full speed ahead!” They know life is a risk, but that’s not going to stop them from enjoying it. It seems that in their little spirits they have somehow heard these comforting words: “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God” (Luke 12:6).
So as my retirement savings tick daily downward, it’s probably good for me to go outdoors and be preached at by the chickadees.
See you outdoors!
Dean
October 29th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
Just found this blog,I’m sure glad I did.I heard once that we should all have a Chickadee attitude.This world would be a better place.
October 30th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Another amazing bird is the hummingbird. I live in western North Carolina and have a park ranger friend who also bands birds and studies their migration habits. Just a few weeks ago, a hummingbird he banded showed up in Texas 6 days later. And several of them have returned as if on a schedule from being down in South America.
Poor old lowly sparrows are a dime a dozen, but God considers them important helping us realize how valuable we are to Him.
And don’t you love the song of a Wood Thrush. I could listen to that fine music all day.
Our fine feathered friends have a lot to say to us, so lets gather at their pulpits and learn.
October 30th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Great info and story, Dean. And especially, a great lesson. I can identify with the retirement savings thing and your post today was a needed reminder and encouragement to trust God and live life to the full no matter what!
October 30th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
When we lived in Fullerton CA in the late 80s, we loved feeding the hummingbirds and watching their amazing aerobatics–especially the male mating swoops.
Once when taking down a feeder to fill it, a hummer came right up to my nose and gave me “what for” for taking away “his food.” He of course did not understand that I was the one who gave it to him in the first place.
It reminded me of how we sometimes act with God. We complain about what we perceive to be negative circumstances–which in reality are merely necessary adjustments God makes to keep us supplied with whatever we need to do the work He’s given us to do.
October 31st, 2008 at 12:02 am
In 1989, just in the beginning of my walk with the Lord, He gave me a hummingbird story. I was sitting on the patio reading my bible as I watched the hummingbirds which had created a nest in the rings of a ceiling fan and decorated it with the same stucco of the building where we lived. I watched everyday as the parents took turns sitting on the nest while the other went to eat. It was not long before the two eggs hatched and both parents found food and returned to feed the young. Not realizing that because of the size of the nest usually only one survived.
I have to do some back tracking so you can understand my interest in the hummingbirds. I had been on drugs for 21 years and became substance free in July 1989. I had a son and then in nine months became pregnant again I considered an abortion but could not go through with it. So now back to the hummingbirds.
One of the babies continually fell out of the nest and I keep putting it back in but one day I took the baby and put it out in the grass to let it die. I sat there hearing it peep and could not take it anymore and went and got it within a few minutes and put it back in the nest and then I called the Audubon society and they told me to open the nest with my thumbs. Well the more I did it the weaker the nest became, so I then wrapped those long cotton strips around it and it stayed big and strong enough for both babies. I was allowed to watch the parents care for them until they were able to fly away. I watched them learn how to fly and the parents hard work in caring for both the young.
It was a two fold lesson that I learned one was that the Lord is our parent and teaches us to live life and is with us until we can fly on our own the other was that he would be with me as a single parent until I raised those two wonderful babies I had and the last one is almost ready to be on his own. There are many lessons that the Lord teaches us through nature if we are open to His leading and every time I see a hummingbird now I smile and feel the Lord’s arms around me until the day I will fly. Thanks for the memories!
October 31st, 2008 at 9:24 am
poohpity:
Thank you for sharing your story. I have heard so many stories about God using his creation to bring people back to Himself.
November 1st, 2008 at 9:18 am
Hi Dean,
He actually did not use nature to bring me back to Him but to show me how He never tosses anyone away or gives up on them. I guess I sometimes have a hard time with words to get a point across.