In Which We Celebrate Everyday Heroes!

We have more active bird nests in our yard this year than I can ever remember. At least two sets of robins have nests going, there are two sets of smaller birds out front, cardinals are nesting in the forsythia bush, and a bird with several soft shades of gray has claimed the most coveted bird real estate of all: the prime spot with a great view of the yard at the top of the large lilac bush near my butterfly garden.

As you might imagine, much peeping and chirping has been going on. And a little bit of squabbling, now and then, over the juicy worms in the yard.

My husband (who has generally not, I admit, been a big fan of birds) and I have been watching with great interest the robin nest that is in a bush right outside our bedroom window. I have frequently come upon my husband - no bird fan, remember - standing by the window using binoculars to watch the mama take care of the baby birds. We counted three little yellow bird beaks, endlessly open, endlessly hungry.

Last week on Wednesday night, we had a tremendously powerful storm. It rained. It poured. It lightninged. It thundered. The winds tossed the trees around and buffeted the bushes. There were dire warnings of floods, of possible tornado outbreaks. But when dawn came, the storms were done, and the mist was rising off the mountains. I drove to work expecting to gravely survey the devastation. But - thankfully - there seemed to be none.

Around mid-morning, my husband called me from home. His sad report: there was no longer any movement from the baby robins in the nest. He thought they might have died - drowned maybe? - in the night's deluge. The mama bird seemed distraught. We were very worried but we didn't know what - if anything - to do to help.

About an hour later, he called back with this update: the mama bird had been working on them like crazy all morning. She spread herself out over the babies, flat and thin, like a blanket, and poked and prodded at them. She worked tirelessly on resuscitating the babies all morning long. And the news was good . . .

He happily reported by lunchtime that we had ALL THREE LIVE BABIES, yellow beaks open, moving around again in the nest - everybody lived! His somewhat sheepish comment: "I have a newfound respect for birds." I admit we were both choked up over the whole thing. Still are.

This week, I worked at home on Wednesday. When I do that, I set up a little work desk in the bedroom by the window that just happens to overlook the robin's nest. So I had a front-row seat to watch and listen to what was going on in the nest for much of the day. The big surprise was not just how MUCH the little birds have grown in a week (they barely fit in the nest now, and they have feathers and are flapping their tiny wings just like they saw Mama do!) but that there are FOUR, not just three babies.

The mama bird brought them food - worms and bugs and berries from our yard - about every 10 minutes, all day long. And when she would arrive, there would be such a chirping and squawking! All those yellow beaks open, each trying to claim the prize! A mama's work is never done.

A couple of times throughout the day, I took a break to try to get a few pictures of the robin family. But the conditions were challenging: shooting through a window screen into a nest where the light was just terrible (in poor light it was bad; in brighter light, somehow it was worse). It was impossible to get a decent photo of all four of the little birds and the mama, so I settled for this picture of just two of the babies with the mama, which was the clearest shot of the bunch.

And so I post this photo and this story in celebration of everyday heroes. You know, the unsung heroes that nobody gets to read about in the newspaper because their stories aren't even written down. The ones who do some small - or large - act for the betterment of their world, sometimes at great personal sacrifice, expecting no thank you, no compensation, no fame. The ones who know the odds are poor, that hope is lost, but who persevere anyway. Hats off to the heroes - both large and small - who swim, walk, or fly among us!

The soundtrack is a song I love:  I know I've used it before and I expect I'll use it again. It gives me goosebumps every time I hear it, and I sing along, I sing it LOUD - with a full and grateful heart, and hoping against hope that someday the opportunity will present itself for even ME to be somebody's hero - every time I play it in the car. The song is Heroes, and it was written by David Bowie and Brian Eno in 1977. There are many wonderful versions of Bowie performing this song, but this acoustic version performed at a Bridge School benefit concert (read more about the Bridge School here), may just be my favorite. The Wallflowers also did an awesome cover of it for the movie Godzilla, so I'm including that version as well. Enjoy!

Addendum: I just remembered another version of Heroes that I wanted to post! It is one of several popular songs imbedded in one of my very favorite tunes/scenes from Baz Luhrmann's wonderful film, Moulin Rouge. Here are Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor with the Elephant Love Medley (the Heroes riff begins at around 2:05).