Hmmm, where will this bend in the river take us?
There is a Sharp-shinned Hawk hanging around the townhouse complex where I live. It has stalked out a spot where one of the residents had put up a small bird feeder. The feeder attracts Sparrows, Finches and Mourning Doves which the hawk would like to have for lunch.
Sharp-shinned Hawks are woodland birds which are not normally found in urban areas. But their expert flight skills serve them well here. The resident one takes off in a graceful arc and swoop every time I walk by.
I hope the Sharp-Shinned sticks around for at least for a few weeks. It is a welcome distraction in this lockdown period when my entertainment options are limited to sappy, Hallmark, happily-ever-after Christmas movies and the 25 metre sprint of the FedEx guy from his truck to the porch and back again.
To make matters worse, I have to mute the television every time a feminine product commercial plays. There really should be a 15 second warning before these commercials play. That way the male of the species could dash out of the room, down the stairs and curl up behind the furnace in the foetal position.
But I digress.
Every time I see a Sharp-shinned Hawk, my mind recalls a day at Point Pelee in mid-May a number of years back. I saw a quick flash of movement out of the corner of my eye and turned in time to see a Sharp-Shinned dart through branches in a thicket. The short, plaintive squeak I heard confirmed that the Hawk had snagged a small bird in mid-flight.
It was the circle of life in action. The song bird gave its life so the Sharp-Shinned could feed and live on. The removal of that one songbird in the population left a breeding territory available for another songbird to nest, raise its young and perpetuate its species. The delicate balance of the ecosystem was preserved.
I do not feel balance in our own ecosystem right now. The normal ebb and flow of life has been interrupted. Doors that normally swing freely are locked. Entire malls are shuttered.
But life does not stop happening. It is rather like dropping a large boulder into a river. The flow backs up briefly. But eventually the river finds a way around the obstruction. It forms what is known as an oxbow – a bend in the river that changes its path.
I do not know where this oxbow in our lives is going to take us. I confess I am a bit worried about that.
But seeing the Sharp-shinned Hawk on my daily walk gives me comfort. We are both in unfamiliar territory. But the circle of life endures.
~ Now Available Online from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting Muskie, Rites of Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet
~ Michael Robert Dyet is also the author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel which was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog.
~ Subscribe to Michael’s Metaphors of Life Journal aka That Make Me Go Hmmm at its’ internet home www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog2. Instructions for subscribing are provided in the Subscribe to this Blog: How To instructions page in the right sidebar. If you’re reading this post on another social networking site, come back regularly to my page for postings once a week.
Tags: circle of life · COVID-19 · lockdown · metaphor · Michael Robert Dyet · oxbow · Sharp-shinned HawkNo Comments