Since I am dealing with temporarily limited mobility and walking with a cane, I felt a kinship with a male American goldfinch that came to our nyjer seed feeder this afternoon.
On a beautiful late summer day, I couldn’t resist parking in a chair on our patio, hoping to spot a wide variety of birds, from the regulars to, with luck, a warbler transiting my part of New Jersey.
It was breezy, so other than a gaggle of jabbering house sparrows, few birds showed up during the 45 minutes I was on watch. The highlight came when a male goldfinch, nicely lit by the sun, arrived and perched atop the nyjer feeder. I got a nice look at him through my binoculars, and I zeroed in on his left foot.
Something wasn’t right.
While his right foot clamped him atop the feeder, he held the left foot up. It appeared mangled, almost pancaked. The bird surveyed the area without wavering, and I wondered if he’d be able to grab onto the feeder tube and have a bite to eat.
Not to worry. The little guy flew down onto the tube and ate heartily. I didn’t have my Canon camera with me, so I tried my best by zooming in with my iPhone. If you look carefully at the photo topping this post, you can see him left and slightly below center, roughly on a line with the bottom of the suet feeder to the right. The sun was shining through the feeder, throwing a shadow, which explains the black band below his neck.
I was impressed at how this little creature with a handicap was adapting and making his way through the world regardless.
That’s an inspiration for all of us living with handicaps, temporary or permanent.
Thanks, little bird, for showing me the way as I regain strength on my left side.
The Jersey Birder 