Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Eastern bluebirds,Thoreau and a graying hippie

Eastern bluebird photos by Jonathan Schechter
(photographed in my yard:  Brandon Township, Michigan  Feb 20, 2012)

Henry David Thoreau wrote, "I went to the woods because I wished to see if I could not
learn what life had to teach --- and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
That timeless quote of Thoreau has been with me ever since my hippie days back in the
hills of Plainfield Vermont when he was my author of choice and I was a
long-haired, bearded, tree-hugging nature loving student at Goddard College.
 And it was there in the meadows of my dreams that I first discovered bluebirds.
Some things have changed:
Hair is much shorter--and much thinner
Beard is gone.
Some things have not changed:
Still  a hippie at heart.
Bluebirds thrive in my Michigan meadow and alight on old fence posts.
Thoreau also penned, "The bluebird carries the sky on his back."
 I know that to be true. For on gray Michigan days the bluebird's sky-blue back makes me
 smile  and  drift back to  happy days of discovery in Vermont where I became a fan of
Thoreau's words in  meadows,  meadows above the Winooski River and near covered
bridges where bluebirds led me deep into the world of nature.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good stuff! I didn't even know that bluebirds stayed in Michigan during the winter. Of course, this year they may not have noticed that it is winter. Thoreau's work is still relevant today, eh? tp

February 22, 2012 at 7:50 AM 
Blogger Jonathan Schechter said...

TP- Thanks, Many bluebirds ( I suspect most in southern michigan) stay all winter and just retreated to sheltered swales and thick brush where they can find old berries and the like. We see the more now as they get 'frisky' in the meadows. And many robins stay too. Jonathan

February 22, 2012 at 7:53 AM 
Blogger elli said...

My Mountain Blue Birds don't stay in Montana over the winter (at least I haven't seen them), but do I ever love to see them when they return. I have a glass one from my Mother which pulls me thru the 'heavy' grey days that I can no longer get out to enjoy ... the cold now makes breathing hard, too many days in the -30 stuff LOL which I totally loved.

February 22, 2012 at 8:57 AM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

love bluebirds!!

March 11, 2012 at 8:12 PM 

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