What is your perspective?

While our yard resembled a swamp yesterday, we were among the fortunate in our region of northern Illinois. We didn't have any flooding or have to contend with detours for flooded streets to the places we were going. The birds found our yard a veritable overflowing pantry, as the ground was too wet for the hiding residents like worms and bugs.

 

 

 

Of course, there was also some of the usual feed provided by the humans around here.

 

Of course, there is the question of how the ground nesting birds handled the situation, but for the most part, the birds took advantage of what was, for humans, a real mess.

 

Recently, we began trying to identify how many different types of birds frequent our yard. The list is growing quite impressive, and new ones seem to come all the time. The most recent we've identified is a fox sparrow. Larger than the typical sparrows we see, it has an unusual trait of jumping forward and back to clear clutter away from its food.

 

 

We had quite a scare with the first one that visited, however, as it hit our sliding glass door and was in bad shape for hours. Eventually, it was able to fly away. Over the next few days, we began to see more of them.



 

Another frequent spring visitor to our yard is the Northern Flicker. Seeing it pounding the ground with its beak (since it is a type of "woodpecker") is truly unusual. Another ground feeder is the Brown Thrasher, which also attacks the ground for food, but without the velocity of the Flicker. The Thrasher normally visits only for a rare few days and is generally camera shy.

As I write this, my husband is watching a World News special report on the hunt for the second suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing. The news of this last week has been devastating in so many areas of the country: Boston, Texas, and the Midwest. It is difficult to handle. At the same time, I am inclined to think about the outrush of support given by so many people in these situations. While there are a few people who perpetrate violence, I believe we need to remember that the majority of people in the world are caring individuals who would do everything they could to assist and comfort those in need.

I invite you to consider your perspective. Do you look at the good or focus only the bad? I know that my perspective can affect my health. Does that happen to you?

As always, until next time, I wish you peace and all good.