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Friday, February 21, 2020

Lesson from a Junco

JUNCOES ARE IN "WORDS IN OUR BEAK"

I haven't seen much of the bird variety known by the name Junco hyemalis (Dark-Eyed junco), this  winter season so I was thrilled when a couple of them showed up at my place the other day. One of them is featured within the photographs included in this blog post.

JUNCOES ARE IN "WORDS IN OUR BEAK"

In the area where I live (NYC), this avian variety (also known as a snowbird) normally shows up in late October and his/her presence in considered by many to be a harbinger of winter. A couple of dark-eyed juncoes did appear in my rooftop garden around that time last year which has been the norm for these creatures for nearly ten years, but unlike those bygone years, the October 2019 juncoes did not spend much (if any) time here after their arrival.

They continued to be absent in November as well as December of 2019 and January 2020. Now that February is nearly over (we have eight more days), it really lifted my spirits to see this bird variety hanging out in my midst.

Earlier in this month, on February 2nd (Groundhog Day), northeastern living groundhogs predicted an early spring, but if indeed the junco is truly the harbinger of winter, these groundhogs may be wrong.

Time will tell.

If winter must lag, then let it be with the company of juncoes.

They have inspired stories in my book series, Words In Our Beak.


MY BOOK SERIES

As many of you may know, lyrically this snowbird (in the song Snowbird associated with singer Anne Murray) is used "as a metaphor for freedom by contrasting the narrator's inability to leave the place of his/her heartache with the bird's ability to just up and fly away."

Maybe my inability to leave recent setbacks and disappointments behind is part of the reason I identify with the song and admire the dark-eyed junco.

JUNCOES ARE IN "WORDS IN OUR BEAK"

JUNCOES ARE IN "WORDS IN OUR BEAK"

JUNCOES ARE IN "WORDS IN OUR BEAK"

JUNCOES ARE IN "WORDS IN OUR BEAK"

Perhaps in the coming days, should the juncoes decide to stay, I can learn from them how to "just up and fly away" from circumstances that make my heartache.

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