Brian’s Reflection: Tuesday, August 28, 2007


Birds have wings; they're free; they can fly where they want
when they want. They have the kind of mobility many people envy.

- Roger Tory Peterson, birder and guide maker,
born on this day, 1908

I don’t have many avocations. But birding is a wonderful part of my life. A few years ago, my dear friends Mart and Gilly invited me to participate in a three-week birding trip to Madagascar. I saved up, and went. Eight of us met in Paris the day after Christmas, birded the Bois de Bologne (where I saw my first bullfinch and the “real” robin), and the Pere Lachaise cemetery. Then we flew to ‘Tana. On that trip, I loved seeing a new country, and we saw over 160 species of birds, many endemic to Madagascar. Birds have become a symbol of many things in my life.

Yes, we all have “duties”, some imposed, some freely assumed. And responsibilities to friends, family, self, visions, causes. All such things come into play when we are making decisions about what to do with our lives. Birds are “free”, can fly. But they too are prompted by the natural instincts, to migrate, breed, perhaps then die. They are influenced by the availability of food, proper terrain, etc.

But yes, they fly! They seem to us to have the ability to respond to the invitation to explore new things and places. And we can fly too. In imagination, in responding to the invitations to learn new things, explore possibilities, love, grow in heart and mind and spirit. When I go anywhere now, I take my binoculars - they remind me, as I seek out the birds, that if I keep my eyes, inner and outer, open, and pay attention, I may see new and wondrous things - in the world, in people, in myself.

Birds do have a great range of mobility, and larger perspectives. We do too, if we dare to soar, and to imagine horizons.

Brian+