Bird Brained

Then the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat; the calf and the lion cub will graze together, and a little child will lead them. ~ Isaiah 11:6

Have you ever heard a Winter Wren sing? No? OK, check it out here: https://ebird.org/species/winwre3 I’ll wait. So many notes from such a tiny ball of feathers! You could be forgiven for mistaking the scurrying brown creature for a mouse, but once it sings there is no doubt about its identity. At the World Series of Birding, attracting birds by imitating their song is fair game, just as long as you don’t use any mechanical or electronic tools. It is not so hard to hoot like a Barred Owl, but one team had a member that was their secret weapon, imitating multiple species, including Winter Wren. Well, a very convincing approximation at least. Their song contains over a hundred notes, I’m guessing that he didn’t hit them all. Actually, when you hear the song, you aren’t even hearing all the notes. Birds can hear notes in a higher register than humans and some of those notes are in that song. Birds also can see differently than we do, including into the ultra-violet range. You know those species where the male and female look alike? Well, they don’t, at least not to the birds. With abilities like that, not to mention navigating by the magnetic fields of the planet, it hardly seems fair to use “bird brained” as an insult.

Describing someone with a disability as differently-abled reflects an important effort of finding a positive instead of seeing a negative first (or only). It is also an exercise is understanding difference by realizing that not everything needs to be filtered by your personal lens. Yes, the natural world is filled with competition, favoring the fittest. But that is not a zero sum game. Losers don’t disappear, they adapt, they find their niche. When we read the open book of creation all around us, we come away with the lesson that diversity is strength. So why is it so hard for us to apply that to one another? There is nothing wrong with finding your tribe. In fact, that can be vital to your development and even survival. But the goodness of your tribe does not require that every other tribe is bad. Of course we will flock together with birds of our feather, readily acknowledging the gifts of others who share the gifts we have. In these fraught and divisive times, it is not only caring, but wise as well, to also attempt to perceive the gifts of other flocks.

Prayer: Many-feathered Creator, remind us that those who don’t fly like we do are differently gifted. Amen.