Thank you YHWH, for you are good! Your love is everlasting! ~ Psalm 136:1
Eared Grebe was a species worth five points for the Super Bowl of Birding, and there was a
bonus if your team was the first to report a five-point bird. So my team, the Wicked Pishahs,
was disappointed when we pulled up to Niles Beach and saw that there was already a team
there scanning the water. But did they know what we knew, that this rarity that was somehow
regular now for multiple winters, had a fondness for a particular buoy? We looked at the
expected location and, voila, the Eared Grebe! We phoned in out sighting and were excited to
hear that we would get the bonus that the other team was surely expecting.
It is not that remarkable that many birds return to the same location repeatedly to nest. At bird
banding stations, the most recaptures are of birds that were previously banded at that station.
Even when a bird goes off course, they will often do it tenaciously, like the Gloucester Eared
Grebe or the Red-tailed Tropicbird that spent seventeen breeding seasons at the same Maine
island attempting (unsuccessfully) to woo a local tern.
Three of the four springs that we have lived in our present house, American Robins have chosen
the Weeping Cherry tree next to our back steps to build their nest. We never solved the
mystery of the missing year, but when they showed up this season, we expected them to
succeed just as they did last year. Perhaps they remembered that we meant them no harm
when we passed them when we took the garbage out. Things were going well, with three
nestlings being fed, when one day we discovered them gone and the remnants of the nest on
the ground. Some predator had located what the Robins thought to be a perfect and safe
location. For a few days, the confused adults continued to bring food to the location, until they
didn’t. They wisely then became inconspicuous and stealthily built a second nest, this time
higher in the tree. Thankfully, this strategy proved successful and they fledged a brood of chicks
from there.
The lesson here is that fidelity is a two-way street. The Robins were faithful to the location, but
the seemingly perfect site did not offer safety in return. Granted, safety is never guaranteed,
but the steadfastness of nature is that life will find a way. The Robins may not believe in a
higher power, but they don’t need to in order to receive divine care and protection. Guess
what, neither do you! God not only promises steadfast love, that fidelity is on constant display
all around us. Yes, it is a two-way street, not that we need to earn God’s favor, just that we
need to trust and keep showing up.
Prayer: We may not always nest in the best places, so we are grateful for the shelter of your
loving wing. Amen.
