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December 2009 
Just Enough
Posted on Aug 5th, 2009
by 
Bird
Bird
Some mornings it's really hard to walk into the room after 20 years of having an aviary . Several strong emotions pull in opposite directions. That's why I practice, practice, practice being gentle.
Sometimes I try to get out of there as fast as I can, especially when I've got other things on my mind .... like a 70 mile an hour wind that whipped through and churned up all those hurricane feelings I'm still working through.
So Heyoka picks up on this and tests me. She likes being petted. As I'm locking the door, she reaches through the bars and tweaks my fingers ... a little bit hard, a little bit soft. And then she sits there and waits for me like an unarmed person standing in front of a tank in Tiananmon Square.
I use the opportunity to move the boundaries of HER comfort zone. I put my whole body in the cage and and hold her several different times, several different ways. This shows her she's right. Biting me is one way to get more attention, but one day she's going to have to come my way because that's not all there is to being in a relationship. Pushing buttons.
I observe a subtle change in how she's giving and taking energy and thrill at the prospects. I go around the room kissing bird heads before I leave. It's hard work, but I love it here. Despite all the things working against us, those birds somehow manage to move beyond their cages, transend the barrier of species, and inspire me to dive deeper and deeper into their realm. I leave feeling exuberant. Crazy!
Sometimes I try to get out of there as fast as I can, especially when I've got other things on my mind .... like a 70 mile an hour wind that whipped through and churned up all those hurricane feelings I'm still working through.
So Heyoka picks up on this and tests me. She likes being petted. As I'm locking the door, she reaches through the bars and tweaks my fingers ... a little bit hard, a little bit soft. And then she sits there and waits for me like an unarmed person standing in front of a tank in Tiananmon Square.
I use the opportunity to move the boundaries of HER comfort zone. I put my whole body in the cage and and hold her several different times, several different ways. This shows her she's right. Biting me is one way to get more attention, but one day she's going to have to come my way because that's not all there is to being in a relationship. Pushing buttons.
I observe a subtle change in how she's giving and taking energy and thrill at the prospects. I go around the room kissing bird heads before I leave. It's hard work, but I love it here. Despite all the things working against us, those birds somehow manage to move beyond their cages, transend the barrier of species, and inspire me to dive deeper and deeper into their realm. I leave feeling exuberant. Crazy!
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What a practice, Bird. To move beyond cages, transcend the barrier of species and dive deeper and deeper into another realm. Crazy it may be, hard work it may be. Beyond our comfort zones…we fly free!
So I'm listening to Reggie Ray and “Meditating with the Body” at lunch and I drop a few french fries on the ground. I wish there was a bird nearby. I know this is the time of day they sleep, but I wish it all the same. A few minutes later I spy a cardinal flying across the courtyard. I tell him to c'mere. “I've got something for you.”
He hides in a big bush next my chair. I ask him to come to where I can see him. He does. There's only black down on top of his head. He scratches it self-consciously. Probably knows a thing or two about eating french fries, that one. So I drop a few on the ground. He watches but won't make a move.
I pick them up again. He hides. I ask him to come over to the nearby bench. He does. I tear them into small pieces and toss them on the sidewalk while he watches. He picks one up. How sweet! I'm happy. I “release” him. He flies away. “That's even more perfect!”
i'm glad the cardinal came over and ate the french fry. I also didn't know birds sleep at lunch time? Do they sleep perched in trees? What do they do at night?
They feed in the morning and at dusk and spend the hottest part of the day hiding from the heat. The heat is what keeps them from breeding in the summer. At night they're just hiding.
In the spring the amount of light they get and the kinds of foods that are available (seeds and fruits) raise their hormone levels. They also breed in the fall, but are generally less successful since there's less time for the babies to grow up before they're challenged by the weather.
Birds who live in cages will breed anytime of because indoors, owners can control the light source and types of foods that are available. I spend a lot of time trying to keep my birds from breeding. It's an incredible force of nature that never relents. I fight it because I don't want more pets and because the stress of laying eggs makes the life span of females birds one-third as long as that of male birds.
There's a lot of environmental stress in the Spring and Fall. April is the month that the most human suicides occur. The seasonal spike of pesticides in the water, allergens in the air , and the change in light affect us too. It's a very intense time for creatures who are already stressed.