Uncommon Birds: Lessons for Life from a Four-Letter-Word Spring

Hmmm, is there any
saving grace in this unrepentantly wet spring?

Wretched. Miserable.
Depressing. Choose your own adjective or four-letter-word. The weather this
spring has been dismal. The sun has been missing in action more days than not.
The rain tap turned on early and just will not stop. It is raining again, on a
Saturday, as I write this post.

Spring is birdwatching
season. My cranky back does not like bending backwards to look up into the
foresst canopy. Nonetheless, I am usually out as often as possible hunting
migrants. The opportunities this year were few and far between with the
persistent bad weather.

In a spring like this
one, I have to hope to catch one good weather day when a wave of birds comes
through with some uncommon species for my spring list. Fortunately, fate did
smile on me once in this forgettable spring.

Orange-Crowned
Warblers are not as
colourful as many of their more striking warbler cousins. Dingy green with only
faint streaking and an orange crown stripe that is seldom visible, they may
seem like a ho hum bird. But they are
uncommon and therefore a highlight.

Lesson: Beauty sometimes
comes disguised in neutral shades.

Cerulean
Warblers get a
birdwatcher’s blood racing. Uncommon and not often spotted this far north, requiring
persistence to encounter, it draws a crowd whenever a male puts in appearance with
its cerulean blue garb with black and white markings.

Lesson: Persistence has
its rewards when life is uncooperative.

You would think it
unlikely to miss spotting a Yellow-Billed
Cuckoo. But even birds of this size can evade notice if they choose. I was
threading through a narrow path in a thicket when I spotted the top half of one
through the maze of limbs and leaves.

Lesson: You have to be
prepared to go the extra mile for some of life’s pleasures.

Distinguishing between
the very common Warbling Vireo and
the uncommon Philadelphia Vireo is a
challenge. Fortunately for me, the sun was at the right angle to bring out the
yellow wash on the breast of the Philly
that crossed my path that day.

Lesson: Sometimes it
really is all about perspective.

Perhaps the most
important lesson of this day was that you have to may hay while the sun shines
in this life. There are times when the good days outnumber the bad by a
considerable margin. But the good days can make it all worthwhile if you make
the most of them.

~  Now Available Online
from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting Muskie, Rites of
Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet

~ Michael Robert Dyet is also
the author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel which
was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s
website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog .

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