A Bird in the Nest Box

Yesterday I had the pleasure of volunteering with the local Audubon Society, on whose Board I have served for a decade, on a citizen science project I co-lead. I was with other volunteer members, two of whom tagged along with me to check on tree swallow nest boxes at the Wyoming Territorial Prison State Park.

The tree swallow nest box monitoring provides data to Project NestWatch to help keep an eye on population trends and can even enhance reproductive success. I’ve monitored in the past at WTP as well as Hutton Lake NWR, where our chapter partnered with a local Girl Scout troop several years and even created a badge for the girls to earn for their efforts. Our program on the Prison site had not been active for a while, so it was a real treat to finally be back out there with eager volunteers to start monitoring this season.

The real reward for 2 ½ hours traipsing around the prairie in the sun and wind on a Sunday morning was the excitement and appreciation on the part of the volunteers participating. I was reminded of what it was like to be a kid learning something new- something really cool!

What does it take for us as adults to revert to that childlike wide eyed wonder?

That is a question weighing on my mind and heart as I continue to navigate- as I know most of us do- the chaos of the world today and the constant barrage of media activity that points out incessantly how unwell we are as a nationwide community. On the one hand, I feel blessed to have experiences like yesterday, and like Friday morning when I led a senior hike to a hidden waterfall. We stopped an awful lot, it seemed, to admire and wonder about the spotted beetle on someone’s jacket sleeve (our resident entomologist was pretty sure this was a fungus beetle, and I wondered aloud why it couldn’t have a niftier name), the waterfowl with its beak tucked into its breast (a grebe that briefly gave us a peek of its regal rusty crested head), and that there was a significant amount of water in the falls (we figured mostly attributable to the snow and rain we received finally in May after a very dry winter.)

On the other hand, I find myself exhausted and incredibly distracted lately, wanting to just sit and read or take a nap, when I’m really falling behind in completing paperwork for clients, or there are more books to be sorted and packed into those to keep and those to give away- because I also have to move out of the house where I’ve lived for the past 13 years, by the end of this month.

I learned this exactly a week before leaving for Europe at the end of April. I found that friends in Europe: Germany, Austria, France, Italy, were surprised. In other countries landlords are required to give more notice to tenants, especially those who have lived in a place for a long time. For example, in Germany, someone who has lived in a rental for 10 or more years must be given at least a year’s notice. Or someone else said, at least 9 months. (But not 30 or 60 days.)

A couple of my European friends commented on how strong I was to leave my trip and our workshop early to help my roommate when things weren’t going well with the moving preparations. After all, I have to move too, and it’s my responsibility as well. I realized, tiredly, that I didn’t want to have to be strong.

In this country, those of us without homes or jobs, or who have mental health issues or chronic illness or work burnout, or have lost a loved one, are not given the time, space or other resources to help us get through- and to heal. We are expected to be “productive,” and if we are not showing enough “productivity,” too bad. We are not deemed worthy of a little extra help. And it’s an epidemic. We have to be “strong.” We can’t be “in need.”

We have become a country that values money over time, things over people, and toughness over empathy and compassion. What is the solution to that?

Please take care of yourself and reach out to someone you can trust if you are in need. And don’t ever underestimate the power of nature to bring you back to a childlike state of wonder. Breathe it in and refresh. A bird in the nest box is worth more than two bucks in the bank.