Spark Bird

Northern Flicker

But ask the animals, and they will teach you, the birds of the air, and they will tell you. ~ Job 12:7

Birdwatching as popular pastime today would likely not have been possible without the genius of Roger Tory Peterson. His innovative addition to ornithology was creating a field guide focusing on what he called field marks. The traditional manner of describing a bird was to begin at the bill and work to the tail, listing details verbally. Obviously, a picture is worth a thousand words, but even so, identification in the field doesn’t leave time for leafing through pages of pictures, let alone reading lengthy descriptions. If you have an extraordinary memory, you could memorize the entire field guide, but mere mortals require something simpler. Peterson realized that if the unique differences between similar species could be shown visually, then, with practice, observation in the wild could be a matter of knowing what field marks to look for.

This gift from Peterson to the birding community started as a gift from a bird to Roger. That bird was a Northern Flicker that he saw as a child. He thought it was dead, but when he approached, it burst into flight with the characteristic flash of yellow. Thus was sparked Roger’s love and pursuit of birds. Many birders have similar stories of “spark birds.” I don’t have a particular species that I would call my spark bird, unless it is “the next new bird I observe.” It was getting a Peterson Field Guide to Eastern Birds in order to identify the birds at my feeder, and a checklist from the Massachusetts Audubon Society that sparked my passion. The idea that the handful of species out my window were just the tip of the iceberg inspired me to complete that checklist.

When Job got his day in court with the Creator, he lamented that his suffering was unjust. God’s reply was that he should go learn from the creatures about God’s righteousness. Our encounters with our more-than-human kin regularly humble us when we see how freely they offer their blessings. If that is what Job experienced then he surely understood that the basic divine law is that we are blessed in order to be a blessing.

Prayer: Divine Spark, ignite a passion in us for the generosity to give with no strings attached that the birds sing about. Amen.