Day 40 in #aBirdFromTheLord
Crow on a light post.
I’ll be praying for you as we head into Holy Week, friends. The darkness is gathering and the Lord is near. Both/and. Always.
What lessons did Lent have for you this year?
Day 38 in #aBirdFromTheLord
A Mourning Dove seems the appropriate avian symbol as we prepare to turn the corner into Holy Week.
As we watch the darkness gather, let us remember that we are not alone.
Day 37 in #aBirdFromTheLord
This morning the dawn chorus is out, including our steadfast House Finches. These year-round residents are easy to overlook. Dependable. Ever-present.
Yet there is much to appreciate in those who just keep showing up.
Who keeps faithfully showing up for you?
Day 36 in #aBirdFromTheLord
Today in the yard, Pin-tailed Whydahs. These beauties started in Africa. Now, due to human foibles and avian adaptability, they live in southern CA too.
I write in Weathering Change about how all change brings grief.
What changes are you seeing this spring?
Day 35 in #aBirdFromTheLord
A crow so deep in the mist it almost looks white.
There are times we can’t see very far ahead. When fog obscures.
In those seasons I’m learning to be still. To wait on God.
It’s never easy.
While I uploaded the 📷 I took of this sweet female Black Redstart, a Eurasian Robin hunted the same spot on my balcony for peanuts. With the memory card still in my laptop - no 📷
I‘ve replenished the peanuts but the robin won‘t return.
Sometimes it’s all about watching the birds.
#aBirdFromTheLord
🪶
Today’s #ABirdFromTheLord included a purple finch singing gaily from the tip of a tree, and a chestnut-backed chickadee watching me from a shrubbery a mere 5 feet away.
Day 34 in #aBirdFromTheLord
California Scrub-Jay in the mist. These brash, bold birds don’t typically visit yards like their Blue Jay cousins. I see them on the trails.
This one looks like I feel in the early hours: a little grouchy, but still doing my best.
One week until Holy Week, friends.
Day 32 in #aBirdFromTheLord
Lone dove on the roof.
Our oldest is in Mexico building a house for a family in need. I’m proud of him and I miss him.
I wonder how birds feel when their nestlings fledge. Spring is on its way, and with it the season of raising babies and then watching them fly away.
Day 30 in #aBirdFromTheLord
God the Artist communicates to us before God the Lecturer. —Makoto Fujimura
It’s been beastly hot here for March - 95 yesterday - so the birds are out early, gathering food before another hunkering down. The trumpet vine is blooming.
Exhale worry, inhale peace.
Day 29 in #aBirdFromTheLord
Our church helps run a STEM Lab at a local elementary school. Today I helped 64 first graders plant sunflower seeds and we learned about the life cycle of a plant.
Two Mourning Doves watched over it all.
Day 28 in #aBirdFromTheLord
Caught this crow playing frisbee.
One of the things I love about birding is that it teaches me to be more playful. It invites whimsy and surprise. It helps me learn to pay better attention to this beautiful world.
What’s out your window today?
Day 27 in #aBirdFromTheLord
Mondays I walk with my oldest before his late start at school. My goal is always to ask him at least one Q that results in him pausing and then saying, “That’s a great question!” I live for this.
Robins watched over us today. Spring is on its way!
Day 26 in #aBirdFromTheLord
Bombs away! Southern CA is home to two resident hummingbirds, but we also have six others that migrate through.
They’re beautiful and zippy and fearless. A reminder to us all that courage need not be contingent on size.
Day 25 in #aBirdFromTheLord
Our backyard is a little overgrown. Life has been busy and the dandelions, horseweed, and sow’s thistle have sprouted big and bold.
Birds befriend overgrown yards. Goldfinches love dandelions. Phoebes snag insects that native weeds attract. All provide color and cover.
Day 23 in #aBirdFromTheLord
A good morning crow atop a light post, just before it winked out. Mornings in our neighborhood are a cacophony—finches and sparrows, doves and crows. Cars and trucks, too.
Today will be a long day. But there is solace in these ten minutes of noisy stillness.
Day 22 in #aBirdFromTheLord
Our neighborhood is full of House Finches. It can be tempting to overlook the common things, to grow tired of what is regular, to seek to outsource daily tasks and chores.
Yet as we take time to really see them, they contain whole worlds.
Day 21 in #aBirdFromTheLord
Anna’s hummer silhouetted against the dawn.
Christian Wiman writes that wonder is the precondition for all wisdom.
The KJV of the Bible uses the word “Behold!” over a thousand times.
We miss so much when we do not pause to see.
Day 20 in #aBirdFromTheLord
Took a lunch walk and said hello to the charm of finches sunning themselves over in our preschool trees.
Halfway through Lent and I feel like I’ve been sprinting the whole way. Book launch. Church programs. Kid stuff.
Today is a day for deep breaths. God is near.
Day 19 in #aBirdFromTheLord
Three California Gulls circling overhead. Gulls get bad rap, but they’re such survivors.
When you’re birding your backyard or neighborhood, don’t forget to look far up into the distant sky. You may see unexpected treasures. Once I spotted a pelican!
Day 18 in #aBirdFromTheLord
Last night the wind sent one of our backyard chairs sailing into the screen door. CA winds feel ominous—they increase our fire risk.
Birds are hunkered down. I can’t see any, though I hear a crow.
Sometimes hunkering down is the thing to do. We wait for smoother times.
There‘s a blackbird singing, the first I hear this year, and the first afternoon to sit outside. Quite nice after a longish illness.
#abirdfromthelord
I love very early spring in NC when you still have winter birds like Juncos in your yard, but also the first spring migrants like Orioles and Catbirds. #ABirdFromTheLord
Day 16 in #aBirdFromTheLord
My spark bird—the one that first got me into birding—was a Black Phoebe. These little flycatchers are all spunk and sass.
“You will see greater things than these,” Jesus tells his disciples. The more I pay attention, the more I do.
What was your spark bird?
Day 15 in #aBirdFromTheLord
Ugh. A leaf blower at the park.
I strain my ears to hear the birds . They are still there. Warbler. Woodpecker. Phoebe.
The world is full of so much noise. It can be hard work to listen to what we long for. And yet, when we do, we are blessed.
#ABirdFromTheLord
Today o spent 5 hours at a local bird wildlife refuge with a birding friend who knows. Everything.
I saw so many lifers today. But what tipped me to my goal of 50 species was the junco which I see dozens of times a day on my patio.
I really loved that it tipped me into my goal.
Day 14 in #aBirdFromTheLord
There’s a Red-shouldered Hawk that hangs out at my children’s school. I hoped to see him today, but no luck.
Still, God sent this crow. One of the things I love about birding is that even when we don’t see what we are hunting for, there’s always someone there.
Day 13 in #abirdfromthelord
How can this be the same yard where I witnessed 24 species just days ago?
It’s all about time of day. At dawn on the day after a rain, everyone was out singing. Today at the hottest point of the day, only the Allen’s was bold enough.
What birds did God send you today?
Day 12 in #abirdfromthelord
Resident Allen’s Hummingbird. One of my favorite things about birding is that how, with time, some birds get used to my presence. This one knows I’m not a threat and doesn’t startle when I sit in the yard with her.
Time and curiosity are great tools for building trust.
Day 11 in #abirdfromthelord
My college roomie and dear friend Inga came out from her home in Buffalo, NY to go to the San Diego Bird Fest with me. Today we kayaked in Mission Bay where we saw Marbled Godwits, Redheads, Pelicans, and this fabulous Great Blue Heron giving us some serious side-eye.
