Sing a Song of Sixpence

Outside our screened-in-porch are two birdfeeders and a birdbath. I love to sit out there in the early morning and watch the birds have their breakfast and splash around. It’s sweet to see how patient the birds are as they wait their turn for the feeder in a near-by serviceberry bush. Sometimes there are baby birds, on what is probably one of their maiden voyages out of the nest, perched in the bush waiting as the adult visits the feeder and then brings the seed to them and puts it in their wide-open mouths.

Most of the time, this local bird spa is a place of quiet enjoyment for me, but not so last week. This haven turned into something out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. As I was enjoying my morning ritual, out of nowhere, a flock of at least a dozen large blackbirds descended on my peaceful space and turned everything upside down.

The smaller birds tried to share the feeders but were soon booted out. The sound of soft chirping morphed into loud flapping wings and shouting. At any given time, there was a ring of six or so blackbirds on the bird bath. None of them took a dip. I imagined them laughing to each other and saying things like “Look at this pathetic bath. Where is my infinity pool?” They just seem very arrogant. They came on the scene and took over with a sense of entitlement.

All at once, something would spook them and the whole flock would take flight to near-by trees, but then minutes later, swoop back down and do it all over again.  

I wondered how long this was going to go on. I had never seen anything like it. I texted my next-door neighbor who is a bird enthusiast and she said this happens occasionally and to just repeatedly make a loud noise and they will not come back. Otherwise, they will stay until they’ve eaten everything.

I had taken some pictures as all of this was going on and I had to smile when I saw the picture posted above. If you look hard enough you can see the ring of blackbirds on the birdbath but to the left is one lone bird that looks to me like the classic depiction of the Holy Spirit, a dove amid the darkness.

In the midst of all this chaos was a sign of hope, beauty, and peace. Something to ponder and remember in our world today.

As the old nursery rhyme goes, “Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie.”  That always sounded so cruel. Not anymore.

Joan