Flashes of Color in the Blue Light

There is more winter to come but Spring is whispering in these days of blue light. And as usual, the whispers take form in birds.

Among the black-capped chickadees, dark-eyed juncos, mourning doves, purple finches, blue jays, house sparrows, downy and hairy woodpeckers, red-bellied woodpecker, and Northern Flicker are more cardinals, yellow finches and oh, joy, bluebirds.

This is the time of year when the bluebirds begin to scout out location for nesting sites, either natural cavities often created by one of the larger woodpeckers or nesting boxes set out by humans. If I had a tall ladder and the ability to monitor the box against predators, I’d have one but those days are long gone. Now I set out extra mealworms for them.

There is a song I recall from childhood entitled “Bluebird of Happiness” written in 1934 by Sandor Hamati and popular in the 1940’s. I listened to it recently and found it too sugary for today. Instead, here is a poem I like very much by Katherine Lee Bates:

The First Bluebirds

by Katharine Lee Bates

The poor earth was so winter-marred,
Harried by storm so long,
It seemed no spring could mend her,
No tardy sunshine render
Atonement for such wrong.
Snow after snow, and gale and hail,
Gaunt trees encased in icy mail,
The glittering drifts so hard They took no trace

Of scared, wild feet,
No print of fox and hare
Driven by dearth
To forage for their meat
Even in dooryard bare
And frosty lawn
Under the peril of the human race;
And then one primrose dawn,
Sweet, sweet, O sweet,
And tender, tender,
The bluebirds woke the happy earth
With song.

When I dropped off some things for donation, the volunteer outside was smiling broadly and noted the bird chorus is beginning. It had gone unnoticed although I have been hearing more owl calls at night. Barred owls have their distinct “Who, cooks, for…you? Who, cooks for..you…all.” (That’s my approximation of what I hear.)

The light stays longer now. Sunset is at nearly 5:30pm if the day hasn’t been stormy and on clear days the sunsets themselves are especially vibrant with rich rosy shades of pink and red, often with blue swirls. What a confection! And it lingers longer than in the summer months when often there is an abrupt ‘lights out’.

As I write this, today is Valentines Day. I’m not celebrating with a special someone but have sent a few e-cards and of course, bought myself some chocolate hearts which I’ve been dipping into for the last few days and now there are none. I could move on to the bars of chocolate purchased for the workers who’ve cleared the driveway and walkways but they count on receiving their bars and certainly deserve it.

Instead I’ll wear a red cashmere beanie which always manages to creep up my head and end up looking nothing like the photos of stylish people. It’s the time of year when a flash of color is what we all are longing for and this will be my contribution.

Oh to be a bird with red feathers. And speaking of w, here is a Mary Oliver poem “Red Bird Explains Himself”:

“Yes, I was the brilliance floating over the snow
and I was the song in the summer leaves, but this was
only the first trick
I had hold of among my other mythologies,
for I also knew obedience: bringing sticks to the nest,
food to the young, kisses to my bride.

But don’t stop there, stay with me: listen.

If I was the song that entered your heart
then I was the music of your heart, that you wanted and needed,
and thus wilderness bloomed there, with all its
followers: gardeners, lovers, people who weep
for the death of rivers.

And this was my true task, to be the
music of the body. Do you understand? for truly the body needs
a song, a spirit, a soul. And no less, to make this work,
the soul has need of a body,
and I am both of the earth and I am of the inexplicable
beauty of heaven
where I fly so easily, so welcome, yes,
and this is why I have been sent, to teach this to your heart.”

from Red Bird, Mary Oliver, Beacon Press, © 2008 by Mary Oliver

We are gliding toward the end of February. (another loong month, in my view.) Let’s hope it’s a soft landing for us all.