Wren

Last weekend we witnessed the launching of six or seven baby wrens. Six or seven because we lost count somewhere between the three on Saturday evening just prior to dusk and three or four more on Sunday morning. (Of course the Sunday morning departees may have been Saturday nights fledglings getting a do-over as on Sunday morning when we thought birds did not return to the nest we saw one leave then return and settle back in before being the last to leave.)

Throughout Saturday afternoon, the wren parents perched in trees and props throughout the yard while loudly calling coaxing the children to come out.

Each fledgling in a test flight of sorts fluttered from the nest to the deck or deck railing which then served as a runway to freedom. I loved how this one landed by the metal squirrel then looked up at it as if to say, "The world's no longer flat, you know." A bit like today's kids who arrive exquisitely alive and ready to fly. They know we're multi-dimensional.

Each wren until the last one used the deck as a runway. The last one was the one that left the nest then returned just as we were saying birds never return to the nest. The second time out, it flew between the rails and was suddenly air born toward a nearby Japanese Maple.

I caught its flight with my camera. While doing so, I wondered if 'wren' was yet another of the words deleted from the latest version of the Oxford Jr. Dictionary. I checked and found my suspicion correct.

Why would anyone omit 'wren'? For now rather than allowing this to spin around in my head, I choose to watch the little bird again sharing its sweet pre-flight chirps followed by flight for I want to fly. I want to always be inspired by birds in flight as well as by their song as I feel its touch upon my heart. And I want to remember, we can always return to the nest, home.

Here's fourteen seconds of flight for you, for me and for the world that is here to be. Enjoy... and click HERE for the original story about the children's dictionary that's deleted 10,000 words many related to what they call Old Nature.

-Dawn! The Good News Muse, July 2010