There is a world of birds in every garden. An ecosystem of birds. A social organization of birds where there is war, love, and an endless search for satisfaction. You only need to listen and observe to learn about it.

 

Yesterday I saw a hawk and two ravens fly overhead, heading south from the ocean cliffs to Golden Gate Park. Momentarily ignorant and having a “Disney moment” I hailed them as they passed. “H e l l o o o o    g o o o o d   F  R  I  E  N  D  S !!” I exclaimed. I figured they were as happy as I in that moment. When I opened my mind and my eyes a little bit more, I realized the ravens were attacking the hawk. Smart birds! They were ganging up in order to drive the hawk off, maybe from some eggs, or a good pile of garbage.. their birdy business, not mine. How important it is to remember I am a visitor here! This is their world. I need to watch what they do to comprehend it.

Once, the day we buried my dad, when some family had gathered at our house for a birthday (!) , we saw an owl in the tree outside the kitchen table. That’s basically the Hub of our family world, the kitchen table. We have never seen one there before. We have never seen one since. My sister-in-law called it a “God Wink.” I’d never heard of that before but I think it was a perfect example of one. The owl had a white face with big owl eyes. It was huge too.  Bigger that any other bird I’d seen in the garden, and regal. VV Cool.

 

Our favorite bird situation is “Blue Jays and the Bees” (to the tune of Beauty and the Beast) On the top of our garage, a flat roof, live two bee hives which we tend for honey. There is a fun interaction to watch between a blue jay and the bees. The jay sits on the lip of the rooftop a few yards from the hive entrance. After considering the timing and such energy or vitality as a particular bee might have, he swoops up into the air, rockets toward the hive, and plucks one out of the air! In one motion he returns to his perch a few yards away, swallows the bee, and prepares to repeat the cycle in 10-12 seconds! And he continues until he’s full. Sometimes he crosses into the lower garden to rest in a tree, have some water, or sharpen his beak on a branch. It’s super entertaining!

 

After a lot of thought during my life, I’ve decided I’m not a fan of feeding the birds with food you buy for them in a store, like seeds or fat, or other treats, which distract their natural foraging instincts. Survival in a natural environment creates the strength and resilience an organism needs to continue living there. Birds have enough to worry about with house cats.

I am a huge fan of creating an environment which birds like and use. I have kept an unproductive dying tree around just because the hummingbirds like to perch and conduct mysterious hummingbird business there. I have also learned to grow branchy undergrowth in which they can hop and hide, to keep a birdbath cleaned and filled as much as possible, and to grow flowers whose nectar they like. Most of all, I’ve learned to hear and see birds during different seasons and different times of the day, here, in this urban garden classroom.