The past couple of years have been so upside down, with issues that threw my “normal” into a tailspin. So today, when my birthday morning started off with a wake-up call for a pigeon rescue, I knew this day was going to be auspicious not for how special it was, but for how ordinary it would have been in my old life, in any other year … and how extraordinary that seems now, especially in the context of this pear-shaped 2020 we’ve all been through together.
The image above was first little face I saw this morning, a pigeon Hugh found grounded and battered in a dew-soaked field. Hugh has a tracker’s eye for injured birds, so I know what it means if I get a call from him when he’s out for an early walk. I don’t know how he spotted him or her in this field, but it was serendipity that brought them together.
The injuries seemed to indicate a predator attack or hawk hit, but we’ll get more information when we follow up with Wildcare.
After we delivered the pigeon to [the always incredible] Wildcare, where s/he is in great hands, we grabbed a Peets, under a sign overseen by a pigeon who looked like she could use an espresso herself.
We found a place to be alone with the chatter of blackbirds and gallinules, and were graced by a visit from a family of river otters playing in the ponds.
So, these sweet faces frame a birthday that, in the past, I would have cherished for its positivity, but which today felt like paradise for its normalcy.
Oh my goodness, SO MUCH TREASURE YOU SHARE WITH US! Every photo is exquisite, every word- true. THANK YOU FOR BEING SO BRILLIANT & GENEROUS BOTH.