A Northern Mockingbird, my first yard bird of the Pandemic. Widespread, common, and conspicuous, it has an incessant voice that even mimics back-up beepers and car alarms (day and night). The mocker: klaxon of the Pandemic.
Day 353 of the Quarantine (March 4, 2021)
A year after the first death in the US from the coronavirus and more than 500,000 people have died here. Half a million American deaths. That’s a population four times that of Cochise County. It’s as if half the people in Tucson vanished. Snap. The most reported deaths of any country in the world, a world stunned by 2.6 million gone.
Next week will mark a year since the start of the national emergency and I began watching and writing about the birds of the Pandemic. Today, the wife and I rolled up our sleeves for our first vaccine dose, Moderna. Yellow-jacketed volunteers stood in the street across from the Copper Queen Hospital and directed traffic. White tents covered the parking lot. A booth offered free sandwiches and drinks for the workers. The mood was festive. In twenty minutes, we drove away with lollipops and small, round Band-Aids fixed to our upper arms.
It’s been a year of wonders. Literally. The Latin mirari means “to wonder at.” Not necessarily a good thing, although we like to think of miracles as a kind of deliverance. Sometimes a miracle is a deliverance into darkness. Perhaps the Pandemic was inevitable. But I think of it as a miracle of nature.
The challenge now is getting through the darkness. It’s been said that if you only do that which you are able, you will never be more than who you are. Unfortunately, I can hardly keep up with who I am.
For now, I’ll stay the darkness with birds. I’ll remain a Pajama Lister.
Here’s a sampling of the 136 birds seen in the yard since the start of the Pandemic.
Yard Bird #44 Painted Redstart
#53 Hammond’s Flycatcher
#63 Plumbeous Vireo
#81 Warbling Vireo
#90 Summer Tanager
#96 Violet-crowned Hummingbird
#105 Hermit Warbler
#114 Steller’s Jay
#124 Clay-colored Sparrow
#129 Gray Catbird
#136 Eastern Bluebird
Thanks for subscribing and staying with me! Much more to come—soon I’ll be catching up to present day with lots of new birds including Elegant Trogon (yard bird #137) and Yellow-billed Cuckoo (#147)!
I know I'm back reading many of your entries. I've lost 3 family members to Covid. All within this past 12 weeks. I myself had it this summer and I was down for over 3 1/2 weeks. My smell still hasn't returned fully. Your bird posts and blogs have been nice. Something positive.
I know I'm back reading many of your entries. I've lost 3 family members to Covid. All within this past 12 weeks. I myself had it this summer and I was down for over 3 1/2 weeks. My smell still hasn't returned fully. Your bird posts and blogs have been nice. Something positive.
Thanks Shannon--so sorry about your losses. We've lost family to Covid as well. Just trying to hang on by watching birds...