Celebrating birds, and bees, and the gifts of the summer | Field Notes

Gary Eduardo Perless
Gary Eduardo Perless
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“The essence of the gift is that it creates a set of relationships.”

- Robin Wall Kimmerer, “Braiding Sweetgrass”

It’s high summer now, a season of so many gifts. There’s an abundance of local food, really delicious, nourishing food that nourishes our community and our local economy.

Gardens and farms, brambles and fruit trees are all brimming with abundance, thanks in no small part to the bees and other pollinators. Abundant sunshine brightens our mood, causes plants to grow, and when it reaches our skin, helps the body to make Vitamin D — greatly supporting our wellness. There’s a feeling in the air of renewal and awakening to possibility. Our senses are stimulated with the wonderful sights, sounds, tastes and smells of the season, and bare feet are becoming re-acquainted with the feel of sandy shores, grassy lawns, and garden paths. 

People are busy, and everywhere I look, the birds are busy with their summer activities: nesting, feeding nestlings, teaching fledglings. Ahhh, summer is here!

Every couple of weeks, I manage to rise before the sun, and get out to the woods to experience the “dawn chorus” of birdsong. 

Male birds proclaim territorial rights while they advertise their interest in a serious relationship. Being a good singer, it seems, is equated with being a vigorous protector and successful provider — roles that ensure the survival of the species. I love hearing the warblers, flycatchers, and thrushes fill the woods with song. Most birds wait for dawn, but male Violet-green swallows rise early, beginning their courtship chattering songs long before sunrise. The worm can wait, the early bird gets a date!

I also love summer walks along the beaches, though most of the waterfowl are conspicuously absent, having migrated northward to their breeding grounds.

Nevertheless, my recent beach walks have gifted me some joyful surprises: a trio of baby swallows resting on beach logs at sunset, tired from a day of flight school; offshore, an ethereal entourage of seven brown pelicans — uncommon in inland waters — all lifting off the water in unison, slowly flapping their huge wings in cadence, then gliding eastward on the wind like visiting dignitaries off to their next engagement; and the graceful passage of the sleek Caspian tern, my “spark bird,” whose harsh rasping call announces its arrival. The regulars include the amazingly aerobatic swallows, the majestic eagles keeping watch from a high perch, and the noisy flocks of gulls offshore, attracted by bait balls of small fish. In contrast to the gulls, small groups of rhinoceros auklets (attracted by the hubbub) use their diving skills to actually catch fish rather than just argue about the one that got away.

Nature operates on the gift economy, in which each creature’s activities also serve the larger system. 

For example, the pollinators — hummingbirds, bees, bats, etc. — get nectar, and as a favor to the flowers, carry pollen. 

Indigenous cultures have long recognized the importance of reciprocity; sharing the surplus creates a sense of mutualism. 

I’m excited by the idea of a gift economy. Have you heard of the idea? I help a neighbor to harvest her fruit trees, and she lets me keep as much as I want — but it’s too much for me, so I share with others. I make a sweet and tart cherry sauce, and trade it for eggs or homemade beer. 

The gift keeps on moving. Mutual gifting is a beautiful way to relate to your neighbors. Could we re-design our local economy around gifting and mutual benefit?

This morning, as I pour my homemade cherry sauce over a serviceberry-laden pancake, my mind returns to the joyful treetop harvest of sun-ripened cherries last week. 

There, balancing delicately near the top a tall ladder, careful reaching out for clusters of purplish-red cherries, I shared a moment of small talk and a love of cherries with a few hungry chickadees. For that timeless moment, I saw the world through their eyes.

We know that there are problems in the world, big ones, and it’s going to take all of us working together to solve them. Food and water are crucial. I recently found the YouTube channel for Local Futures, which is a global movement encouraging all communities to re-localize their food systems — something we’ve been working on for years here in east Jefferson County. Kudos to all the farmers, gardeners, artisan cheesemakers, and allies for promoting our local food systems. 

When we share the surplus, a symbiotic relationship develops, a win-win situation. Will you join the conversation? 

Happy summer to all our relations!

(Gary Eduardo Perless is education director with Admiralty Audubon Society. Find out how to join one of his bird walks by looking at the Events page at admiraltyaudubon.org.)