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It ain't over till the blackbird sings
393 Plays1 day ago
A garden drama unfolds during a heatwave, and I share my summer solstice/New Year wishes for you.
Thanks for tuning into another year of Reskillience! We'll be back later in January full of fresh questions and custard.
Shout out to my love Jordan Osmond for helping produce this episode.
Sound credit: BlackbirdFiltered.wav by acclivity
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Transcript
Southern Hemisphere Solstice and Nature
00:00:03
Speaker
race scal end Greetings, friends, and happy summer solstice. It's the longest day here in the Southern Hemisphere, and I know this not because my Google calendar said so, but because all along the roadsides, the St. John's wort is blooming. Solstice wort, they call it, with its tiny yellow flowers hailing the longest day until someone comes along and sprays it with glyphosate.
00:00:31
Speaker
I also know it's summer solstice because lorikeets are streaking green and gold and orange overhead, the grass is crispy beneath my feet, and there are more community potlucks than nights in the week.
Teenage Birds and Baby Blackbirds
00:00:45
Speaker
Another thing I'm noticing is the abundance of teenage birds. Everyone's leaving home and finding their way in the world with varying degrees of success. I mentioned the baby blackbirds that hatched in our apple tree last episode.
00:00:59
Speaker
Well, about that. I've been peering at these little beings since before they were born, spying on the nest every time the mama blackbird went out for groceries, four sky blue eggs at head height outside our house.
00:01:13
Speaker
Could you really expect me not to creep on them? One day, the eggs started jiggling and jiving, coming alive from within. Cracks appeared, and one, two, three, four baby birds broke through the walls of one world and into another.
00:01:31
Speaker
At first, they were all beaks and bones and closed eyes bulging beneath papery skin. Every day when their mum flew off to find worms, I'd bring my face close, but not too close, to the blind mass of baby birds and say,
00:01:45
Speaker
Hey little guys! they grew faster than summer cucumbers quickly feathering up and fluttering their eyes open blinking back at me placid and calm like i was just another branch of the apple treee i was sure that my role as self-appointed fairy bird mother a stable presence in their lives since birth would earn me a place in their tiny hearts That when the time came for them to leave the nest, they'd probably just hop straight onto my shoulder.
00:02:13
Speaker
My bonded blackbird buddies. My plus four at parties. And maybe I could train them to take messages to my friends down the road. And perhaps at night we could all snuggle up and eat grubs and watch reruns of Alone as one big happy interspecies family.
00:02:29
Speaker
But it wasn't to be.
Blackbird Fledgling Rescue
00:02:31
Speaker
Last week, we had a heatwave. Three days of volcanic heat with winds like lava rolling in from the west. On the first morning, I went outside like I usually do, past the apple tree and the blackbird's nest and the four, now nearly fully feathered babies,
00:02:48
Speaker
and looked in and said, hi guys! And in a clatter of virginal wings, one baby blackbird leapt from the nest and into the broad beans, and I was like, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck fuck now I've done it.
00:03:01
Speaker
And against all wildlife wisdom, the kind that Tanya Luz would probably have given me, I started searching for the bird on my hands and knees, eventually finding them huddled in the weeds and and picked them up, my little pal, remember me, and gently popped them back into the nest with their brothers and sisters.
00:03:22
Speaker
But wait, where were their brothers and sisters? The nest was bare, there'd been a mass exodus, and panic-stricken, I dropped back down onto the ground, rooting around in the undergrowth, saying, "'No, no, no, you're not ready to be out here on your own. "'It's too hot, it's too scary,
Understanding Fledgling Behavior
00:03:38
Speaker
it's too dangerous. "'You can't even fly, you're all gonna die.'" And finally, finally, i found the baby blackbirds, one by one, and placed them ever so gingerly back into their wattle and daub home that their mother had made for them.
00:03:53
Speaker
And, one by one, they all jumped out again. This time scattering far and wide like dandelion seeds towards the thickest, wildest edges of our backyard.
00:04:06
Speaker
And I stood in shock, thinking what a mess I'd made. What a senseless waste of young life, because now my little pals were lost and alone on a 40 degree day with two more to come.
00:04:18
Speaker
So I might as well have thrown them on the barbecue. I trudged back inside and thought, maybe I'll ask the internet about baby blackbird behaviour just in case this is normal. And sure enough, I found out that fledgling blackbirds often leave the nest days before they can fly, as soon as nine days after they hatch, swapping safety for uncertainty, flirting with cats and eagles and cars as they build their strength on the ground before taking to the sky.
00:04:50
Speaker
And over the roar of that 40 degree day in the deafening heat and the din of the midday sun, I could just hear the mother blackbird calling, chip, chip, chip.
00:05:03
Speaker
I'm here. I've got you. We're still connected. And faintly from all four corners of the garden, the peep, peep, peep of her children's reply.
New Year Wishes and Blackbird Metaphor
00:05:17
Speaker
On the cusp of this new year, I wish you the courage to face whatever comes. I wish you the wisdom to know when to step in and when to stand back. I wish you so many worms in your garden, more worms than 100 hungry mother blackbirds could ever dig up.
00:05:34
Speaker
I wish you warm nest mates and strong wings, shared meals and a sturdy home sheltered from the prevailing winds. And most of all, I wish you the keen ears of a baby blackbird to better hear the contact call of Mother Earth.
Gratitude and Future Plans
00:05:51
Speaker
Thanks so much for tuning in to Reskillience for another year. I'm sorry I don't have an interview for you today, but I'll be back later in January after a wee break and we'll re-release some golden episodes from the archives in the meantime because stories get better and softer and comfier the more you wear them.
00:06:09
Speaker
To the patrons of this podcast, you have been in the wind beneath my bony little wings, keeping me keeping on as a one-woman show, obstinately opposed to sponsorship or advertising and completely in love with this kindred community, sharing person to person, bird by bird, without a social media presence, whoops, yet somehow reaching far and wide. Happy summer solstice to all of you and much love.