Oxbows in the River and the Circle of Life

Hmmm, where will this
bend in the river take us?

There is a Sharp-shinned Hawk hanging around the
townhouse complex where I live. It has stalked out a spot where one of the
residents had put up a small bird feeder. The feeder attracts Sparrows, Finches
and Mourning Doves which the hawk would like to have for lunch.

Sharp-shinned
Hawks are woodland
birds which are not normally found in urban areas. But their expert flight
skills serve them well here. The resident one takes off in a graceful arc and swoop
every time I walk by.

I hope the Sharp-Shinned sticks around for at least
for a few weeks. It is a welcome distraction in this lockdown period when my
entertainment options are limited to sappy, Hallmark, happily-ever-after
Christmas movies and the 25 metre sprint of the FedEx guy from his truck to the
porch and back again.

To make matters worse, I
have to mute the television every time a feminine product commercial plays.
There really should be a 15 second warning before these commercials play. That
way the male of the species could dash out of the room, down the stairs and
curl up behind the furnace in the foetal position.

But I digress.

Every time I see a Sharp-shinned Hawk, my mind recalls a
day at Point Pelee in mid-May a number of years back. I saw a quick flash of
movement out of the corner of my eye and turned in time to see a Sharp-Shinned dart through branches in a
thicket. The short, plaintive squeak I heard confirmed that the Hawk had
snagged a small bird in mid-flight.

It was the circle of
life in action. The song bird gave its life so the Sharp-Shinned could feed and live on. The removal of that one
songbird in the population left a breeding territory available for another
songbird to nest, raise its young and perpetuate its species. The delicate
balance of the ecosystem was preserved.

I do not feel balance in
our own ecosystem right now. The normal ebb and flow of life has been
interrupted. Doors that normally swing freely are locked. Entire malls are
shuttered.

But life does not stop
happening. It is rather like dropping a large boulder into a river. The flow
backs up briefly.  But eventually the
river finds a way around the obstruction. It forms what is known as an oxbow –
a bend in the river that changes its path.

I do not know where this
oxbow in our lives is going to take us. I confess I am a bit worried about that.

But seeing the Sharp-shinned Hawk on my daily walk
gives me comfort. We are both in unfamiliar territory. But the circle of life
endures.

~ 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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