Little Bird Black
May 9th, 2009
About two weeks or so ago our roof was chosen by a family of beautiful Redwing Blackbirds as a nesting place. There are two more pairs of these magnificent creatures starting homes down further in our yard but we don’t see nor hear them quite as much as this pair who’ve been driving our poor cats nutty.
A few days ago I was lucky enough to have a bit of a close encounter with them. It was so nice out I decided to take a blanket, my writing stuff, and two of our kitties out for a little nature centered writing session.
Our two youngest kitties are leash/harness trained so they don’t cause too much of a fuss but they were so happy when they got to sit less than three feet away from these huge birds, well, not huge like the hawks that can take off with the cats- hence the leashes, but bigger than the Finches and Chickadees who usually frequent our feeders. I was amazed when they continued to fly to and from their nest while we were out there, even coming down ‘nearly’ within Gabe’s reach and acting like he wasn’t there at all. Lol, my cats are so mad that I wouldn’t give them the line they needed to get slower (I only do that if they’re hunting spiders).
Anyway, while my cat children enjoyed a little game of yank-leash-fall-over-drool-and-repeat I came up with a little ditty in my head that later turned into this. One of the lines irks me terribly but it’s stuck in my head and doesn’t want to be changed so I’m going to leave it as it is. As for the image, it’s something I drew (pen) awhile back. It’s actually a Chickadee but I decided to color it like a Redwinged Blackbird just for the hell of it. It might be a little fuzzy because I took a photo of the original in my art book instead of just scanning the thing- it’s so much quicker, lol.
Ode to Little Bird Black
Little Bird Black with red on your back,
Eating your seed and sneering at cats.
Feather by feather and abreast to abreast,
Hiding in my rooftop and building your nest.
From beak to foot and wing to tail,
Nevermore fall where men have failed.
Sing to the sun and tell us your story,
Of forests green and winds so stormy.
Fly high, fly free,
And to your own skys be true.
[Edit: Video and photos of my new avian friends coming soon!]
Now that one might be fun to send to a children’s mag :)
I never thought to harness train my kitties. Hmmm
You sure can draw! A nice piece. I like this poem of yours.
“Nevermore fall where men have failed.” – this line tells us that every living creature is majestic in its own way. Man can never fly like a bird.
“And to your own skys be true.” – Yup, birds are always true but can man be like them?
@ Jessie:
It’s definitely something you have to start when they’re young. The younger the better in fact though it can be done when they’re older you just have to make sure you get a really light harness otherwise they’ll just lay down and act like you’re torturing them. :) Lol, I’ve never thought of sending stuff out to a children’s mag. I might have to look into that. Thankies!
@ Areka:
Thankies very much. :D Both aren’t my best work but I’ve very proud/fond of them. I’m glad you like it, those two lines specifically call out to me in a way I can’t even begin to describe. :)