I want to sing like birds sing, not worrying

about who hears or what they think.

Jelaluddin Rumi

Bird Brain Thieves

I have received e-mails about birds doing all sorts of interesting things: Clever things, spiritual things, scary things, and more. But one of my favorite e-stories is the one to follow. I checked out the story’s authenticity on http://www.snopes.com/ and found that, though the e-mail versions of the story have some inaccuracies, or have apparently been “embellished,” the core of the story is actually quite true!

In Fredericksburg, Virginia, a man named Bill Dougherty has a company which installs coin machines. An owner of one of the car wash facilities Bill's company installed a machine for called Bill with a complaint: He was having problems with theft from his change machines. In fact, he had lost probably thousands of quarters over the course of time, and could not identify the culprit. The car wash owner even suspected some of Bill's employees of possibly being the perpetrators.

Mr. Dougherty set out to identify the thieves, to catch them in the act of stealing, in fact, by setting up surveillance cameras. And what a surprise he got: The film certainly caught the thieves in the act – but these thieves’ vehicle of escape came in the form of wings. The thieves were, in fact, birds!

What Mr. Dougherty discovered, was that one of these remarkably brilliant birds was entering right up into the machine from the coin tray. He would work his way up into the mechanisms of the coin machine in order to retrieve quarters, coin after coin! The bird's accomplices would then fly off with the loot. Mr. Dougherty reported that many mornings he would find hundreds of quarters on the ground below the machines. Some birds would fly off with as many as three quarters in their beaks at one time. According to snopes.com, the birds were making off with hundreds of coins per day!

I found it amusing that these birds were demonstrating such an intelligence as this. The sort of birds who were enjoying the “coin play” are called Starlings. This variety of bird is known for its attraction to “shiny objects.” The shiny trays of the coin machines and the sparkle of the coins became their ideal playground. …So much for calling someone with limited intelligence a “Bird Brain!”

National Fallen Firefighters Foundation Memorial Dove Release

This photo & its use on this blog, courtesy of Dom Cirri, Maryland's Wings of Love. Photo by Mark Ryder.

Each year, the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and the Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Fire Administration host an annual memorial event in Emmitsburg, MD. There are many different activities surrounding this very special tribute, including a touching dove release provided by Dom Cirri of Maryland's Wings of Love. http://www.marylandwingsoflove.com/

Maryland's Wings of Love is a premier dove release company, and upstanding member of the White Dove Release Professionals, a.k.a. WDRP.

According to their website ( http://weekend.firehero.org/media/weekend2.html) "Each year, the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, the U.S. Fire Administration, and the American Fire Service pause to remember those who gave their lives protecting their communities. Many came from across the United States, from all branches of the fire service, for one important mission: to honor and remember.

These men and women work together with a very special group known as Fire Service Survivors, whose loved ones' names are enshrined on the National Memorial. Offering hope and strength to the newest members of their circle, Fire Service Survivors provide true understanding of the grief of our new families. They have traveled the long and difficult path of healing after their firefighter died in the line of duty."

If you follow the "firehero" link in the text above, there is another beautiful photograph of the dove release, featuring the doves flying over one of the buildings at the site of the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial.

There is hardly a greater honor for those of us who provide professional white dove releases than to watch those birds fly in honor of heroes such as these.

Winter Flights

As Winter continues to stroll along with frosty breath and sleepy flora, it is also a slower time for our A Breath of Heaven Doves' birds.

In the loft, there is not much courting to speak of. The very libido of the birds seems to become dormant, and they exist alongside one another more one big familial group. They aren't quite as active, they aren't quite as vocal, and they aren't quite as amorous as they are in the other three seasons of the year. As though, in unison with Mother Nature, they realize that all of God's creatures need periods of time where there is mainly solace and peace and much rest. Despite the heat lamps in each loft, the birds don't seem to seek them, not yearning for the boost of warmth I surely would. They have more-than-adequate shelter, they have good food, they have fresh water. With our stewardship, they are sufficiently and wonderfully made by their God; perfect and self-contained to provide comfort for themselves. For the most part, their instincts seem to make it clear that this is not the ideal time to raise their young. And so they wait -- for warmer weather and longer days of light.

Despite the sorts of winter weather many may believe is unfriendly and unwelcome where our doves are concerned, that very weather, I think, is something they continue to find joy in. No, we do not take them on releases in that inclement weather. They are under our protection in those ways (see previous posts regarding ethics). And yes, surely there are days when the cold and gloom might affect moods, even for those beautiful birds.

However, they clearly enjoy many types of weather, even in the winter.

On a sunny day, when their lofts are opened up for free flight, they often drift out of the lofts to glide around our property in a multitude of circles.

When there is a strong breeze, they clearly find joy in "riding the wind" like an invisible roller coaster as they circle our acreage -- climbing up, up, up against the gentle forces,... and then turning to shoot across the sky, riding the tail-wind as a collective group, almost as though there are rails below them. Never do they seem to collide! They dance like a well-rehearsed team, yet they fly with such freedom.

Oh, and when it snows! You may be challenged to find a more lovely sight than white doves coasting in large circles, gliding through drifting snowflakes. And as the snow pillows up on the ground, it seems to act as a sound barrier. The world becomes silent -- even the usual sounds from nearby roads are muffled. And in this miraculous set of circumstances, if you stand still ... and quietly... in the middle of the birds' flight pattern, you can hear the whisper of their collective wings -- it is like a long, intimate whisper: It is so much more audible with the blanket of white on the ground and the covering of clouds just above. The peace of experiencing this phenomenon is somewhat powerful, and as soothing as a perfectly-hot drink that warms a cool soul.