Blue grosbeak
When you pay attention to timing, rhythms, and paths, you find where you intersect with others. On our morning walks this is literal. While the time of our walk shifts with the light throughout the year, it’s a pretty gradual shifting most of the time. Who do we intersect with? Four deer cross our path at the same spot for much of the year. Grasshopper sparrows and meadowlarks are in the same areas of field and fence as we pass by from spring through fall. The adult foxes have slightly more variable rhythms but we often see one or know one has just crossed our path. This year the blue grosbeaks are nesting close to our path and this morning we got to see the male in a display with head feathers spiked, tail feathers dragging the ground, and wings moving slowly out and in as the female watched from the fence. He was just ahead of us and didn’t seem perturbed by us. We stopped to watch (just as we stop for the deer to cross) and he eventually flew up to where the nest seems to be. For me, awareness of where I intersect with others who are wild(er than I) really helps me know I am part of the whole. I can feel my part in the symphony of life. Who are you intersecting with and where?