Lesser Goldfinches: male feeding female on nest!

This afternoon marked 12 days since we first saw the goldfinches and their nest outside our classroom window! The bird books say the incubation period is 12 days, but I don't know if the first egg hatches after 12 days or if it's 12 days from when the clutch is complete. Today I snapped three pictures of the male feeding the female, and they're much clearer than the one I got before!

Last week we watched the female stand up in her nest and move the eggs around with her head several times, and the kids really enjoyed watching her and writing about it and all the feeding behaviors. It's so much fun to have our own viewing platform to observe nesting behavior from!

peeking at the nest

I bought a finch sock full of thistle seed today and hung it in the tree next to the nesting spot. I wondered how long it would take for the goldfinches to find it, and was rewarded by a student letting me know pretty quickly that there was a goldfinch feeding on the sock! It's so nice when things go so well!

Today my baby is flying from the nest in Chico all the way to Chicago to go back to college. He's done a lot of hard work and growing up in the year that he's been home, so it seems right that he should be ready to go on with his life and his education. But I'm sad, I'll be missing him. He's a very loving person, and he's my baby. My nest will be empty, but that's as it should be. Launching is an important part of parenting. And he is planning to come back!

goldfinch sings good morning to me

As I was walking to my classroom this morning, this little male goldfinch was singing so loudly that I looked up and saw him. I had just enough time to stop and dig the camera out of my purse and snap a picture before he flew away. I guess he wanted some attention too, as I've been taking plenty of pictures of his partner and their nest! It was such a quick and lovely opportunity, and now a sweet thing to reflect on.

daddy goldfinch feeding mama goldfinch

It's so hard to teach and catch a picture of this! She starts twittering when he's around, and then the kids at the viewing platform squeal when he swoops down to feed her! At first some of the kids thought they were kissing! I hope to borrow a camera to get some video footage of this!

more miracles

By Friday morning the kids were thrilled that there were four eggs in the nest, and the students at our 'bird viewing platform' would squeal with delight when the male goldfinch would swoop down to the nest and gently feed thistle seeds to the female. Of course, in our classroom the kids keep calling them the mama bird and the daddy bird, it's hard not to! Any parent or teacher that comes in the classroom is treated to a tour of our 'bird viewing platform' and a detailed explanation of all of the bird behavior we've observed so far! The kids love it, and they recruit students at recess to come in for tours too!

Over the weekend it was very windy with a bit of rain, and several staff members worried over the little birds and their nest. One said she was thinking of trying to go hang something to protect it. I was worried about the wild cats that have litters under portables every spring, as the nest is very close to the ground...okay, I'm still worried about that. Several people have said I should put wire around the base of the tree to keep cats out, but it's a delicate balance trying to figure out how not to disturb the nesting birds.

Our Principal put locks on the gates on either end to try to protect the nest, but everyone has a key, and this morning one of the district maintenance guys went back there with a weed whacker and took down all the food source for the birds. I ran out to talk with him, asking him if we could skip the mowing for a month or so, and he said, don't worry, we only do it once a year, and we'll be spraying it tonight. I hope the spray doesn't hurt the birds or the nest, as I had no luck in stopping it. I figure I'll have to go buy some thistle seed and a feeder so that the pair stays well fed since the vegetation is gone.

I wanted to go to school to take more pictures yesterday, but I was afraid of finding a tragedy. I know it's the natural order of things, and lots of eggs and baby birds don't make it, but this is my miracle right now, and I really need it. I was thrilled to find them safe and sound this morning, and the kids were overjoyed when the mama bird returned to her nest after the weed whacker left. Then the daddy bird came and feed her while she kept the eggs warm. I might get to be a goldfinch gramma yet!

goldfinch miracles

So I snuck out to the nest early, before school, and snapped a picture! The kids loved watching the birds eating and keeping the nest warm. We have our own private viewing platform!

goldfinches at my window

I was alone in my classroom at lunch when the grief of missing Katie descended. She came home for the last time at the end of this week for her spring break, five long years ago. This is the time of year my heart reaches for her to come home. These days represent the last times we were together as a family, complete. They were fragmented and unintentional times, lots of kids coming and going, and me going to work. Just normal chaotic family life, no one knew this was it, the end of something special.

My computer wasn't working, so I couldn't write anyone. I called Gabe and Jason to hear their voices and tell them I love them, and that was good. Then over the roar of the OSHA approved air exchanger that runs all day to keep the air in our portable classroom safe (safe from what I don't know) I heard the call of a bird. I went to the window near the road and slid it open to see if I could hear it better, and noticed several Lesser Goldfinches perching on the cyclone fencing just a few feet from the window. They were ruffling their feathers and twittering to each other and eating the flowering tops of the weeds. They continued to fly around and chirp, amazing me with their bright greenish-yellow breasts.

When my students came in from lunch, they were delighted to watch the tiny finches and excited by their flashy yellow bellies. The kids gathered at the window and helped point out the little birds to each other. Suddenly, one child said, there's a nest! When I asked him to describe where, I saw it, low in the crotch of a paper birch tree, and one of the little birds settled into it like it belonged to her. Finally we went on with our day, but after the next recess we spent a few minutes bird watching again. After school, Debbie came over to look out our window too, and decided to go outside and check out the nest. There's an egg in it! A tiny egg! Tomorrow I'm going to try to get some pictures.

Rock Cairn

As we were leaving North Mountain in the Sutter Buttes, Debbie and I impulsively decided to build a rock cairn. She said, didn't you tell me that three rocks mean to stay the course and four rocks mean a change in direction? Let's build one with four. So we veered off the path and quickly picked up rocks, and Debbie wisely said to choose a pointy one for the top. I asked her which direction it should point in, and she said back toward the mountain. And she pointed toward the now hidden mountain as I placed the fourth rock.

It's hard to change direction and face the unknown. Losing our jobs is difficult; losing meaningful work that has carried me forward through grief is painful.

Hiking North Mountain in the Sutter Buttes

I was excited to go on a hike in the Sutter Buttes, a tiny mountain range in the middle of the valley in Northern California. Much of it is privately owned, so a hike must be arranged with a guide. We started off by driving through seven gates that had to be opened at the start of our caravan and closed after it. Cathy told us about a high school class that had named the gates after Dante's seven deadly sins, and funny little stories about some of them.

Our hike was called "In a sacred manner" and was led by a Native American guide. He was fabulous, giving us little talks and contemplative free time as we hiked. We hiked around North Mountain, and the andesite and rhyolite rock formations that topped it were breath-taking.

We serendipitously met some researchers that were trapping ringtail cats. So when they checked their traps and found five, they sent us a message on a radio they loaned to one of the guides. We got to look closely at them and I even got to pet one that was tranquilized to put on a radio collar! Such a wonderful unexpected experience! It made me remember how much I enjoyed field biology.

We hiked to the ridge and looked down over Peace Valley, which has been purchased by the state but has no access. It was incredibly windy on the ridge, and If I went again I would bring a small kite! We also hiked to several different huge grinding rocks, and one of them we had the honor of being asked to join our guide in cleaning debris out of the mortar holes. We also visited Drum rock, and our guide told us the creation story of the Southern Maidu or Nisenan.

The Maidu believed that the Sutter Buttes were the center of the world, and were a sort of prophetic ark. As long as two of each creature lived in the Buttes, that type of creature would live in the world. He told us about when time was eternal and circular, always being renewed. And how there was a special oak tree that had twelve branches that was sacred. But when the railroad came, that tree was in its path and was destroyed, and since then time has been running straight like the rails, and cannot be stopped.

He told us about a raft, a mudman, a turtle and a rope with seven knots. He said that when we are searching for our meaning in life, we should return to this place, Drum Rock, and find our center, our inner compass. It was beautiful beyond words. I wish I could describe it better.

yard bling

dragonfly over field of poppies

blue vortex

So here is the gypsy birdbath! I hope it doesn't scare the birds away! Grouting it was an interesting process. First I had to choose a grout color, then mix it and smear it all over till my birdbath was covered with black grout. Wow, hard to believe something beautiful could ever emerge from all that blackness, sort of a symbolic part of the process I think. Then, when the grout had set up just right, it was time to take a dry rag and begin to carefully rub away the grout covering the ceramic and glass pieces, cleaning away the excess from the beautiful parts. Amazing! Now I could see Katie's little heart carefully held within my healing heart, and the complete circle of eternity surrounding us and holding us safe. Oh yeah, and the little blue bird that helps me bring my happy memories of Katie into the present moment.

my "let it be" tree

in memory of Katie

When I've heard of someone famous taking on important work in memory of his or her child, such as John Edwards running for office in memory of his son, I used to get so frustrated. I don't have Katie's talents and training, I could never study math and work in a physics lab or play a concerto with an orchestra in honor of her memory. Finally I settled on just being the best teacher I could be, something that Katie had fully supported me in. She had volunteered with my kindergartners and my struggling first and second grade readers, so I would strive to be the best teacher I could be for each of my students, for my class as a whole, and my school as a community.

Now I'm losing my teaching position, and it hurts. Teaching is meaningful work for me on a daily basis. But it's also about carefully choosing and buying books for each student in Katie's memory, then watching my students read and smile and share about those books, gaining fluency and a love of reading that will serve them the rest of their lives. So I'm not only losing my job, the work that I love, but I'm also losing the way I keep Katie's memory alive in my life.

Dreaming of Poppies

I had a nice dream this morning that I was planting poppies all around my front yard. Remembering it later in the day made me smile, knowing that somehow I was going to find the time to plant the three packages of poppy seeds that are sitting on the table. We lived in the canyon when the kids were little and I used to plant poppies each year. I have sweet memories of counting poppy blossoms with Katie. It was so much fun to go out each day and check with her to see how many we had. Once we counted to 130 in our little patch of flower bed!

So you're welcome to come by and plant a few with me this week if you're in Chico! And check out the yard bling that I made in mosaic class! Armen said my birdbath looked gypsy! I'm hoping all the red in it will attract hummingbirds to come and play in the water! Lots of rain and not so many birds right now, so waiting for spring.