Holy Spirit Retreat Center

 

From Sister JoAnn.  "On April 26th we have two of our Franciscan sisters coming to Holy Spirit Retreat Center to do a program on Owls and Bees,  since I know you are interested in these things could you put it out to the public.  We’d love to have you come, let me know if it might be possible?  Blessings and may you experience Joy this Easter season along with blessings these days of Holy Week.

Welcome Spring! Sunday, April 26. 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm Who's Who? WHAT  DOES  OWL  SAY?  S. Rita Brom will bring an owl (or more?) and her naturalist’s insights into the world of owls. What's the Buzz? S. Alice Thraen, Assisi Heights beekeeper, will share her wonder at the amazing world of bees. Free Will Offering. Holy Spirit Retreat Center. 3864 420th Ave Janesville, MN 56048. Phone: 507-234-5712. E-mail:  retreat@frontiernet.net. Web:  www.holyspiritrc.org

Look up!

Oh, great, as if I didn't have enough things to worry about already. 

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Another reason for not burning any bridges. 

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Iowa is a beautiful place. 

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Our Town, our nature

 

  Robins sang a cappella in the yard. The major movement of robin migration is timed to follow the 37-degree isotherm, a line on a weather map showing where the average daily temperature is 37 degrees.

  I listened to the robins. Helen Isabel Moorhouse wrote, "And I think if you listen closely in the sweet glad days of spring. With the song of the brook, the breeze, and the birds, you can hear the flowers sing."

  House sparrows chirped jauntily. These birds are much too interesting to be unvalued.

   A friend retired. Now he has the time to take a cup of coffee onto his deck and listen to the cardinal's morning song. That’s a delightful benefit of retirement that is seldom mentioned.

  I spotted a pair of mallards in a road ditch. A drake has the tightly curled tail feathers, but it’s the hen that quacks.

  A woman from Minnetonka told me that she had grown up in a family that had a crow. The bird pecked holes in cigarettes so that smokers couldn't draw smoke. It was a health-conscious crow.

  In "Our Town," Thornton Wilder wrote, "Oh, earth, you're too wonderful for anybody to realize you."

  That’s probably true, but I’m giving it a shot.

A ghost on glass

 

An impact image of a bird on a Minneapolis window. Photo by Richard Greene of New Ulm.

 

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A window unto nature

  I had one of those stare out the window moments. Sometimes, it’s just the thing to do. Most of the world is out there somewhere. Daydreaming delights me and a window offers fascinating things well worth contemplating. Each gaze brings amazement. Each glimpse brings wonder. During this particular look, the signs of spring were outnumbered by the signs of March--a March made of both winter and spring. Cold and snow prevailed. Spring could have been just a myth.

  Yet, the day was decorated in birds and the morning had secrets to share. Goldfinches had begun to be golden birds once again as their plumages moved from olive drab to yellow. The bills of starlings had turned yellow for spring. Canada geese honked like hounds on a fresh trail as they flew overhead. House finches sang beautiful songs that once made them caged birds sold as Hollywood finches. The red of the handsome males was good to see. They can be orangish or yellowish, too, depending upon diets. Robins fueled by testosterone tussled in territorial disputes. It seemed unnecessary at such an early date, but they must know what they are doing. My mother claimed that a returning robin needed three snows on its tail before spring could arrive. Red-osier dogwood showcased its red veins of spring. Also called red twig dogwood or red willow, it brightens the grayish landscape.

  The dawn chorus, an inspiring demonstration of vocal athleticism, will begin in earnest before long. It’s when birds, mostly males, declare territories and intentions. Emily Dickinson, described it this way, "The birds begun at four o’clock— Their period for dawn— A music numerous as space And measureless as noon."

  Studies have shown that birds sing louder to overcome traffic noise. It’s difficult to escape manmade sound.

  I watched and heard a downy woodpecker hammer upon a hollow tree. That’s a cry for spring. The downy is the most common woodpecker species to visit a backyard bird feeder. A woodpecker isn’t the most melodious of singers, so it uses its pointed bill to produce sounds on resonant surfaces. Woodpeckers play percussion instruments in accompaniment to the singers of the dawn chorus.

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The miracle of eagles

 

The wind whispered stories. The sky flared pink. I thought it might rain, but it didn’t. 

  John Updike said that if he could be any animal, he’d be a turtle, because he liked the sound of rain on a roof. If I could be any animal, I’d be a crow. I've always wondered what skunk tastes like.

  A song sparrow sang on my birthday. A kestrel did a fixed-wing dive at a perched crow. It did little more than irritate the crow. The crow was so much larger that the kestrel looked like an oversized mosquito, filled with ferocity. A red-tailed hawk made an attempt to capture a rock pigeon feeding on the ground. The raptor was unsuccessful.

  Friends reported eagle nests along lakes not far from where I live. Bald eagles have been nesting in my home county for a good number of years, but it still seems to be a miracle whenever I see one.

  

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Spring is coming, but it's taking the long route.

John Hay wrote that without birds, the days would go by without definition. I watched Canada geese fly over, some in flocks and some in pairs. One flock was flying in a V-formation, honking while booking it northward. One goose was far behind the rest. It had a formation of one. I imagined it honking, "Hey, guys, wait up." 

  I heard a red-tailed hawk’s raspy scream that sounded as a raptor should sound. At least, that’s what Hollywood directors must think. Whenever a raptor appeared onscreen during my young years, the shrill cry on the soundtrack was almost always that of a red-tailed hawk. 

  A branch provided purchase for the tiny feet of a junco. I watched starlings perch on utility wires. They are a species adapting to its environment.

  Soon the frost boils will be blooming on our roads. Does spring bring the birds or do the birds bring spring?

Al Batt

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