Little Birds — Symbols for Life

“The language of birds is very ancient, and like other ancient modes of speech, very elliptical: little is said, but much is meant and understood.” ~ Gilbert White

Today my house is surrounded by “little birds” and I love it. I continue to be inspired by and spoken to by little birds on a regular basis. When I arrived home late this afternoon after watching my son’s double header in baseball, I saw five different kinds of birds gathering around my front door.

First I saw the chickadee feeding its babies in the box nailed to the porch post. It’s always a pure joy to see an adult bird feed grubs, worms, and insects right into the gaping mouths of baby birds. Out of the hole of the birdhouse a little open beak would appear.  Immediately an adult chickadee arrived to meet its need. In and out, up and down — this little scenario of nurturance repeated itself over and over again.

The chickadee encourages us to be truthful and cheerful in our expression

Then, I saw the bright yellow iridescent goldfinches feasting at my new thistle feeder just next to the colorful pinwheel under the living room window. Brilliant flickers of yellow flashing to and fro. Such beauty!

My eyes lifted upwards to see two mourning doves sitting on the top of the roofline — quietly observing everything. How I love to see the doves! My heart rises and then rests when they appear.

There was a robin pecking about in the front lawn. And then I noticed another chickadee perched on the brick pavers.

Finally, there were swallows flying about from roof to tree, from tree to windowsill, from windowsill to tree, and then from tree back to roof — like flight pattern practice.

I couldn’t help but watch from my car window, parked in my driveway, for a good long while soaking it all in.

When I got to my kitchen I heard the now familiar sound of robins through the open windows. So I stepped out onto the back deck to take a peek. Not only did I find robins perched at the very tips of the evergreen branches way out in back watching their nest of young in my shagbark tree, but they were also perching on my fence posts. And, there were two more mourning doves cooing together under the yew and four cowbirds pecking about in the back yard.

The mourning dove says release the past and embrace the future

So many little birds!  I was feeling very blissed out! 

I decided to find out what these little birds had come to tell me — and this is what I discovered.

Chickadee — This black-capped little sweetie of a bird stands for cheerful and truthful expression. While some people say that “the truth hurts” this little bird reminds us that when truth is spoken with kindness and compassion, it can offer healing and balance instead of wounds and pain.

Goldfinch — This beautiful little bird helps us connect to nature spirits and to keep remembering that, because goldfinches are rarely silent, nature is constantly speaking to us.

Robin — Robins are the traditional bird of Spring and as such they symbolize new growth. So, when robins appear you can expect new growth as well. They sing a cheery trill for their song which serves as a reminder to us to sing our own song and to sing it loudly!  The powder blue robin’s egg is also a symbol for creativity and bringing forth the new.

The robin encourages us to sing our own song

Swallow — The swallow represents protection and warmth for the home.

Mourning Dove — These beautiful, gentle birds are symbols of the “in-between times” because they appear most obviously at dawn and dusk, when we are neither in light or dark, day or night, but in-between. Because of this, mourning doves symbolize letting go of the past and embracing the promise of the future.

Cowbird — The cowbird is the smallest member of the blackbird family though it is not entirely black. It has a brown head. This bird symbolizes parent-child relationships. Because they usually deposit their eggs in the nests of other birds and then depart leaving the egg to be reared and raised by surrogate parents, cowbirds remind us to resolve old childhood issues of abandonment. They also make us pause to reflect on our own style of parenting.  Are we giving the right kind of attention to our own children?  Too much attention, or not enough?

These are all powerful messages from my little winged friends.

It is said that birds are the messengers between heaven and earth.

I believe that.