The words, "look at the birds", are Biblical. Jesus spoke them in a different context than I am using them. I do, however, want to write a few BLOGS about birds and relate them to we humans and our life-work and struggles. I hope you will stay with me on this venture.
THE CARDINAL
This beautiful red bird often called a Redbird is something else! You know by his name that he is a cut above the others. "Cardo" is Latin for "the hinge of a door", or ( something important is tied to it). In the case of this bird it is the cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He wears a red hat and robe, much the same color of this noble bird. A Swedish botanist named Carollus Linnaeus, noting the color of the bird and papal robes matched, gave the name. It stuck.
This bird is seen as a mascot (Saint Louis Cardinals, Louisville, etc) and as the bird of every Christmas season. It is known by non-birders. It feels comfortable in your yard at a feeder. How many times have we said, "O look! There's a cardinal!".? We love the cardinal, and we should! My mother would always warn me when I headed out to "hunt" with my Daisy Air Rifle; "You had better not be shooting at any cardinals or bluebirds!". I never did.
Maybe they are too nice! Cats prey on them, for cardinals like to eat on the ground just at dark. A hunting cat can easily leave a pile of red feathers on the lawn. There are many other threats to this bird's existence. Snakes, racoons, fox squirrels, hawks, screech owls, all can pick a cardinal as a target. If not the bird, the eggs. The worst scoundrel is the cowbird. This lazy bird will find a cardinal nest and lay her own eggs there. When the birds hatch it is the cowbird who is born first. He will compete for feed, and bully the smaller birds, sometimes even booting one out of the nest. The cardinal will lovingly care for that bird as her own. She takes what bird life dishes out. " Red and yellow,black and white, they are precious in her sight."
Many ornithologists believe cardinals mate for life; that is, they remain together not only through the breeding season, but on through the year. If a bird dies, the other one then seeks out another mate. Let me assure you this isn't the case for many other birds.
To hear a cardinal sing is a special treat. I can even hear it with my impaired hearing. Oliver Hereford wrote these words on a favorite Christmas card of my friend, the late June Osborne, whose book "The Cardinal" gave me much of what I share with you. He wrote: " I heard a bird sing in the dark of December, a magical thing and sweet to remember."
We can find ourselves in the dark of December and it is April or July. Decembers descend on us, often not on our calendar. We have to listen long and carefully to hear a song that is sweet in those trying times. "What cheer, cheer, cheer." he seems to say.
We who are Christians can hear such a song. Paul created his own song in the night in a prison cell. When your December comes, I pray you can hear a cardinal song of God. "What cheer,cheer,cheer!".
