by Chris Condon
Just the other day ago while looking out my kitchen window, I saw something astounding. Truth be told, it is often so, as my wife and I are fortunate enough to live in a relatively quiet neighborhood with old Modesto ash trees lining the streets and front yards are filled with flowering pear, Japanese maple, valley oak, ginko, and a myriad of other trees, plants, and shrubs, many of them now in a fall-season kaleidoscope of vermillion, ruby, cinnabar, and gold.
Actually, though, beautiful as this autumn explosion of color is to see, it was something else that astounded me, something quite small. In truth, I’ve come to notice in my life that slow but often surprising changes can come about from very small things. “You never know,” I am sure someone must have told me long ago.
In this case, all I did was hang a bird feeder in the maple tree just outside the window.
Initially, nothing much happened. Every morning, I would look out the window and see the lonely bird feeder packed with seeds sway a little in the wind, not a bird in sight. Nothing was happening, so of course I began to think… Wrong seeds? Too close to the house? Too late in the season? Feeling a little discouraged, I began to doubt the whole endeavor. And of course, when I wasn’t really looking… everything changed.
“Wow! Come look at this one!” I called out from the kitchen to my wife as I scrambled about looking for my binoculars. Golden-crowned sparrows were feasting on seeds, swarming the feeder from all sides. A day or so later the goldfinches began showing up, small bright bundles of yellow flame. Soon enough flashes of red and amber appeared, with black wing feathers trimmed in white, marking the coming of the house finches. I still don’t know many of the birds’ names, but I often find myself content to just watch as the colorful acrobats dart, swirl, and flash every which way as if in a dance of joy.
“You never know,” as they say. Such a small thing, really, that has made my heart sing.
To learn more and connect with Chris, please email christopherpc@myyahoo.com<mailto:christopherpc@myyahoo.com>
