Birds

Looking out our hotel window here in Dingle, Ireland I noticed a beautiful little black and white bird I’ve never seen before. So cute. It was hopping around the gravel next to the driveway obviously looking for insects. This little bird looked somewhat like a few seabirds I’ve seen...but miniaturized. And it made sense that this was in fact some type of seabird as Dingle sits on a bay facing the Atlantic.

That night at dinner I saw another through the window and asked the waiter what kind of bird it was as he was Irish, probably local and perhaps grew up seeing these birds often. “I don’t know” he replied, “It’s just a bird.”

Now, he was in his 20’s, maybe having a bad day or tired of tiring tourists like me so I’ll give him a break but... how appalling to be so disconnected that you seem to have no curiosity and place little value on the life around you.

During our drive here we stopped at a sheep farm and were treated to an exhibition of a boarder collie and his trainer moving a flock around a huge rocky pasture. The dog seemed to love his work and between her and her young master they maneuvered those sheep with ease. And the sheep were amazing in their togetherness...running in a protective group... side by side jammed tight against each other. It was something to see.

Later, I saw a colony of 10 or so seagulls walking a freshly plowed field together, a murder of crows lined up on a tree limb, and cattle everywhere in the fields... but never alone...always near one another. In Dingle town itself there were crowds of people. It seems that all beings seek the comfort of their own kind, and it struck me, not for the first time or yours of course, that there is wonder in all this and what a pity it is if one is unaware or uncaring about the life around us.

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