What great spotters we had last month at God’s Great Backyard Bird Count!
In a little less than an hour out on our Motherhouse grounds, our Sisters, friends and guests counted 19 different species of birds, identified by sight or sound:
18 cedar waxwings,
12 black-capped chickadees,
12 American crows,
6 house finches,
6 juncos,
5 tufted titmouse,
5 American robins,
4 house sparrows,
3 hairy woodpeckers,
3 red shouldered hawks,
3 Northern cardinals,
2 white breasted nuthatches,
2 red tailed hawks,
2 blue jays,
1 red bellied woodpecker,
1 Eastern blue bird,
1 morning dove,
1 white throated sparrow, and
1 great blue heron.
Held each year to celebrate migration season during a four-day period in February, this “citizen science” initiative, in partnership with Cornell University and the Audubon Society, allows people around the world to help scientists better understand global bird populations and their annual migrations by reporting their observations and local counts.
Those who gathered with us in Baden were treated to a beautiful reflection by Sister Mary Frances Grasinger, delightful bird-themed songs by Sister Judith Kenaan, an inspiring talk by Sister Caryn Crook, a Sister of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities who previously worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service restoring wetlands, time to make bird feeders and a game to explore the trials and tribulations of migration.
Before heading outside to begin the count, Sister Caryn asked the group to recall moments of awe – that feeling “of reverential respect mixed with fear and wonder” that we often experience in nature. St. Bonaventure says that awe is the “first step in growing our faith and having that relationship with God,” she explained, adding that “seeing flocks of birds migrate and how they work as one” is what brings her awe.
Sister Caryn shared a personal revelation that while she always “loved learning the names of all the grasses, the birds, everything I saw” in her work restoring wetlands, it wasn’t until she became a Sister and began to learn about Franciscan ecology that she realized she wasn’t separate from creation, admiring it from the outside. “I’m in nature, I am nature,” she came to realize. “We’re all one in nature. All the universe is one – we’re all an integral part of it.”