What's definitely different about this year is that I've had the pleasure of watching a few of them grow up, including my boy Spike here. As you may have guessed I named him Spike because the feathers on his head stick up half the time. I first noticed him in early Spring, when he was just a pup. He was reddish-brown and about half this size. I see him almost every day and it's been a treat to watch him grow and color-up.
We've had lots of rain this year, and about a third of the times I've seen him he's been wet, which no doubt contributes to the spike thing, but we have several mated pairs of Cardinals and lots of babies, and none of the other ones have the feather thing going on. He also seems to have a personality to match his "spikiness." He has at least one brother and sister, because they show-up together, and from what I can tell his siblings seem more mellow, and aren't spikey. He's always chirping and hopping around, and he seems to be the leader. I'd never have thought that birds from the same nest could have different personalities, but then I never thought about it.
Maybe since I'm old and useless and lonely-hearts and all and I never do anything any more, I've become even more of a birdwatcher, but that's cool with me. It's actually an honor to be a tiny part of Nature, and I sorta consider Spike to be a friend. He makes me happy when he stops by, and isn't that what friends should do? In return I keep the feeders filled, and he and his friends aren't going to go hungry on my watch.
I even got some grass-fed beef tallow and a giant 5lb-bag of dried insects, and I'm going to make my own suet cakes. For one thing the store-bought ones, the good kind, are crazy-expensive, and mine will be much cheaper and much higher-quality. I'll have the healthiest birds in the 'hood. The recipe includes birdseed, crunchy peanut butter, corn meal, flaxseed and dried organic cranberries. Heck, I'd eat that myself. The boids will love me. It's the least I can do. They'll be able to fuel-up for Winter, and stay a bit warmer. One of my favorite Bible verses says "For as you do unto the smallest of these, so you do also unto Me." God is saying that if you help one of His creatures, you're helping Him as well. As much as I like that idea I'd do it regardless.
If this is indeed a perfect world in the end, and my beliefs hold true...and oh, yeah...I actually manage to make it into Heaven, then I'll spend eternity with God, my friends and family (the ones who make it anyway), and all the animals I could possibly go "St. Francis" on, including Spike. Wouldn't that be cool? Who knows...maybe one day I'll surf the Rings of Saturn, with my dog by my side and Spike riding on his head, with his feathers sticking up. That'd be a blast. Never say never.
Science (SCIENCE) has proven that we need some sort of contact with Nature to maintain our physical and mental health (see: GABA Receptors, immune system, stress levels, general well-being, etc.). Being cut off from my river as I am now, not to mention having to move to a part of town where gunfire is a semi-regular thing, I think that if I didn't have a stand of trees nearby and my birds, I'd probably lose what's left of my sanity.
Plus it's been fun to watch Spike, his brother and sister and all his friends grow into adolescence. A buddy of mine looked up "bird years to human years" for me when I put up a video of a mama bird feeding her baby, but I forgot what it is. I know it's more than dog-years, so I reckon Spike is now a young-adult, fresh out of his teenage years. He's still quite the character though. Godspeed Spike! God is good.
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