Today's theme was the solstice, which means in its Latin roots, "stand sill."
The black moment is the moment when the real message of transformation is going to come. At the darkest moment comes the light. – Joseph Campbell
Today was just one day before the solstice, so we reflected upon the themes of light and dark, and the day's turning once again to length. Not until January 13th though do the days began to warm up again. For today, and for the rest of this holiday week, the weather remains reasonably warm. Despite the mild weather, the birds, perhaps to honor solstice, were quiet and still today. A flock of Canada geese did greet us at one point as they flew over, but mostly the birds took their cues from one another, being led perhaps by the puffed up very still blue jay to the quite cold looking downy woodpecker at the end of the walk. By the time of the service, however, the birds had started moving and we had a nice flock of chickadees, titmice, and juncos foraging around the western windows.
Our next bird walk on the grounds is January 17th, Sunday, at 8:30 a.m. beginning at the Parsonage. Even if you can't make the earlier bird walk, we record sightings of all birds seen on CUUC grounds until 1 p.m. on each Sunday. For more information, or to report bird sightings on the grounds, please do contact me.
In hope for all life,
Rev. LoraKim Joyner
amoloros@gmail.com
Here's the species list for the day: - 51 individuals of 12 avian species, 1 rodent species, and one ape species.
| Canada Goose | 11 |
| Cooper's Hawk | 1 |
| Mourning Dove | 15 |
| Red-bellied Woodpecker | 1 |
| Downy Woodpecker | 1 |
| Blue Jay | 1 |
| Black-capped Chickadee | 4 |
| Tufted Titmouse | 2 |
| American Robin | 4 |
| European Starling | 3 |
| Dark-eyed Junco | 3 |
| Northern Cardinal | 5 |
4 Gray squirrels (except they were all black)
4 Humans
How wonderful. We are pleased to have a group that documents our bird population throughout the year. I look forward to seeing the changes from winter to spring.
ReplyDeleteI have hopes that the bird counts are only the beginnings of more extensive citizen science efforts our congregation can undertake as evidence of our commitment to understand and enhance the vitality of all life in our region.
ReplyDeleteThanks LoraKim