A Bird Sign for All Time

March 5, 2010

I live in the last neighborhood in Charleston, SC along the Ashley River before entering the historic plantations and gardens of Ashley River Road. So we’re basically living on restructured swamp lands just like the plantations, and are therefore a natural bird sanctuary for all the scenic ponds and large wooded burms needed to conserve the wetlands. I’m a true egg head and nature lover so bird watching has always been a subconscious hobby. I simply love to admire birds. When I first read that Jesus also admired the birds, and even directed us to consider them for the spiritual lessons they can teach us, I believe I was moved more than most avid bird watchers because A) I was an atheist at the time and B) In the year leading up to that 1st reading I had several striking experiences with birds… small anomalies and unfolding stories alike… oddities that seemed supernatural compared to behavior I had previously witnessed in birds anywhere at anytime. Though that single connection paled to the larger revelations and the ultimate transformation that began the night of that first full Gospel reading, I will always marvel at the mysterious ways God sometimes chooses to speak us…. I pray for more every day. Maybe that’s why I’ve continued witnessing (for lack of a better term) bird signs… mostly casual winks of cool bird encounters, yet I don’t let them feel too casual… I still marvel at it. Today while working in our combined office area (our sun room) that looks across our yard and a scenic little pond, my daughter Amber and I noticed a bird way larger than a goose or buzzard swooping across the pond and over our yard. Realizing it was an eagle of some sort, I grabbed my camera and dashed out to see if he’d let me take his picture. Of the hundreds of varieties of birds that live on or migrate through our pond every year, over the 7 years I’ve lived here, I’ve never seen an Eagle fly overhead at any height… never mind 50 to 100 feet overhead. Suddenly I was part of a dance that involved not one but two eagles, two totally unrelated eagles, suspiciously turning up in my yard at the same time for the same reason. Here’s a shot I took of each bird. I have to dash, but I’ll be back to finish the story. There is a twist, and an interpretation.

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