“Look this way, death. See me, you red of tooth and claw. Save my babies. Eat me if you must, but leave my children alone.” 

PART 1—A BRAVE LITTLE MOTHER

I saw a mother house finch risk her life this morning.

A familiar birdcall caught my attention. Looking through the glass door to the patio, I saw a small, modest-looking bird sitting unhidden and unprotected on the patio table. Her chirps came rhythmically, like the signal from a neutron star that sends radio pulses through the cosmos—regular, consistent, and compelling, like a beacon.

“Look at me, look at me, look at me.” 

We have two cats. Shiva, our male, is a magnificent Maine Coon. Lakshmi is female, a siamese-shaded gray American shorthair. Both are beautiful beasts and top-tier predators. The moral dilemma of allowing our felines to prey on local wildlife does not escape us, so we feed them well and let nature take its course. Who are we to argue with evolution? On a primal level, the struggle is amoral. We don’t like it, but  In this life, we must pick our battles. 

Both male and female birds emit this cadent, attention-grabbing single chirp, We witnessed It after a pair of house finches had built a nest in the creeping charlie hanging within feet of our patio door. After the eggs hatched, one of the adults—whichever was available at the time—would sit on the iron fence rail saying, “Look at me, look at me, look at me,” whenever the cats were on the patio, Just imagine these brave and beautiful parents risking their lives by calling to the cats.

They were obviously distracting them from the nest. It worked, and they successfully raised their sweet little brood. I wish we had pictures, but we didn’t want to call unnecessary attention to them. Shiva eventually realized they were there, but to our relief, his attempts to climb were met not only with our rebukes, but also with the inability to find his way up there.

Think of the courage, to signal, “Look this way, death. See me, you red of tooth and claw. Save my babies. Eat me if you must, but leave my children alone.” What valor they have—such an inspiration. 

When I think of house finches, I flashback to the time when they first landed on my radar.

It was near the beginning of the new millennium when an issue of Natural History featured a male of the species on the cover, but the story inside was about the females. A small number of caged birds were released in New York in 1940, and the species has quickly spread throughout the United States and Mexico. According to the magazine article, the mother birds seemed to be responsible for their migratory success.

Apparently, the gender balance of chicks makes a difference in foraging success depending on food sources available in different areas. Researchers concluded that the ability of the female bird to produce the most advantageous mix of male and female offspring in each locale made enough difference in their survival rate to allow them to expand their territory exponentially.

PART 2—A SYNCHRONOUS SONG OF ENCOURAGEMENT

This happened during that time when the magazine was still in the house. I was getting ready to leave for work when a birdsong suddenly caught my ear. Upon opening the back door I could see its source. A smallish brown bird with a glowing red-orange breast sat atop the half-wall of my back porch singing his little heart out. This wasn’t the protective single chirp, but his sweet warbling song, engraving its celebration of life on my heart.

When I saw him there, with his beautiful orange breast, I went to the living room and looked at the cover of Natural History. A thrill of synchronicity shot through me. Here was an innocent child of the Mother, son of his bird mother, and no doubt mate to the mother of his children, bringing me a gift of music to brighten my day.

He couldn’t have known about the magazine in the living room, my recent and ongoing discovery of and dedication to the Mother of All Living, and Her unique expression reflected in the wisdom of his species. Yet, here he was, at this time in my life. From that moment on I have been able to recognize the warble of the house finch in a heartbeat. I can pick it out from the background of other noises whenever it’s within my hearing. 

PART 3—INTEGRATION AND ASCENSION, THE CALL OF THE OWL

Coming Soon.

So, I listen to podcasts to help me fall asleep, and one night I tuned into a reader and psychic…