The Go Away Bird
- soulspacecumberlan
- Sep 25, 2023
- 4 min read
The Animals and Birds Will Teach You
“But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Book of Job 12: 7-10
As the nights and days become a little cooler and fall arrives to Western Maryland, I am going to miss my screened porch—a place that I find myself each day. Most summers, I keep a single bed out on the porch and spend some nights sleeping there. When I do, I find myself so aware of the late night and early morning noises. At night, I hear the frogs and crickets. In the middle of the night—around 2 to 4 am—there is almost silence as the night creatures quiet down. And then, just before sunrise, I hear the first chirp of the day. My friend Adam, a great birder, tells me this is likely a robin. Once the robin begins to sing and the sun’s rays make their way over our mountain ridges to the porch, there are many birds singing. Some days a group of deer are making their way over the ridge in our backyard or a flock of wild turkeys will be coming down the ridge path. When I sleep and wake on the porch, I feel a part of nature. I feel at home in a deeper way. I feel more connected to the world as I make my way into my day. It is as if the birds are teaching me.
I never imagined how many birds are in our woods until Adam came by one morning to listen and teach me what birds were singing in the trees just outside the porch. He arrived with a little spiral notebook and pen. We sat on the porch together and I tried not to talk. As I got used to the silence, I realized that it was not silent at all. Yes, I heard the robin’s constant chirp but then underneath were other bird calls. There was the vireo, the nuthatch, the bluejay, the finch, and, from time to time, the pop-pop-pop of the woodpecker—both red-headed and pileated—as they hunted in trees for an insect meal. Adam listened and identified. After he left, I sat quietly and, using Adam’s carefully recorded page of birds and their calls, I listened again. So much was going on in the woods around me. Finally, as I pulled myself away from nature’s community to get on with the day, our resident hummingbird hummed by the porch screen with a morning salute.
I think that I really began to be aware of birds in South Africa. The birds of South Africa are so very different from the birds of North America. South Africans are great birders and very tuned into the natural world around them. During walks and hikes, there were many stops to spy bird life in the trees and bush. One South African bird that I am very fascinated by is the Grey Lourie. Grey Louries are in the open woodlands and thorny savannas of southern Africa. They regularly form groups and parties that forage in tree tops or take dust baths in the ground. Even with these behaviors, I have never seen a Grey Lourie. I have only heard one. And I feel a companionship with this bird. Here’s my encounter.
Bryan and I had taken our church youth group to a place on the Escarpment of South Africa east of Johannesburg. We were staying at a farm there. On one late afternoon hike at just about dusk, our guide Peter stopped us and said, “Listen!” We all tried to listen. We heard a sound….”kway”. Some more silence. Then again, “kway.” Our guide informed us: “That’s a Gray Lourie. And it is a bird that likes to hide in trees and not be seen. Its call sounds like “Go Away! Go Away!” We went on with our hike. But I went back when we returned from the hike and stationed myself under the tree. I peered up in the tree—nothing. After a good amount of time of silence, I gave up. But as I was walking away, I got a nighttime call…”Kway…Kway……Go Away! Go Away!”
As a young child with no siblings, I often played by myself outside making up imaginary games. As part of my imaginary world, I often liked to climb trees as a pirate or a witch or a lost girl in the land of Narnia and observe the world hidden from view. Sometimes I just wanted everyone to go away. I felt like the gray lourie and I understood each other. There are times it is just easier to stay up in the tree and observe the world rather than engage with it. But, according to ornithologists, at some point, unseen often by human eyes, the gray lourie comes out of the tree to find food and to socialize. Perhaps it does so early in the morning as the other birds of the woods begin their morning chorus, waking up the world to do the work for the day.
Now as I sit on the porch in the morning for a few more weeks, I am emboldened by my morning chorus of birds to leave my hidden perch in the woods and go find my human community in the world. But when I sit down to listen first thing, I often think I hear the “kway, kway” of the gray lourie who understands my quiet side that likes to observe on its own and let’s me know there is a place for that side of me in the world.
Pondering: Are you a birder? When do you notice birds in your daily life? What bird intrigues you? Do some research on that bird. There might be a lesson for you there.
Hear the Grey Lourie call on this site:
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