Angels on my Doorstep

It’s amazing how sometimes we don’t see something that is right under our very own nose! We expect things to be a certain way and thus, that is exactly how we look for it, never attuned to the possibility that it might appear differently…..

Living in San Diego my garden was so filled with birds, blue jays, mockingbirds, black phoebes, goldfinch, doves, hawks, sparrows, and some little brown birds that I always called my ‘angel birds’  because they always brought an extra smile to my face. (But truthfully they all felt like angels to me.) Their songs delighted me and I took great pleasure in watching them bathing, feeding, catching insects, even squabbling, I loved it all and I decided that I certainly wanted to continue the tradition here in Punta Abreojos.

Just before leaving, I googled ‘Birds of Baja’ and found several I figured I could entice into my garden here (such as it is). On previous visits I’d seen very few song birds, but figured that with quail, doves, hummingbirds and (supposedly) phoebes, I certainly could make a go of it!

I researched the proper bird seed mix for the area (Desert Blend) and exactly how to feed them (no raised dishes, directly on the ground, only 1 day’s food at a time so no varmints or mold get it.) Then I called my favorite bird store in S.D. to see about Desert Blend, however they didn’t carry it and time had run out for an internet order, so I departed with only a small amount of left over Patio Mix seed carefully stored in a container for future use. Upon arrival I began watching for their presence and patterns hoping to find the best way to invite them over.

For the 1^st month I watched and waited. The coo of a dove made me run outside to find out where it was and where to place some seed. Always their paths were behind the house and up the hill. I noticed that my neighbor Ed occasionally has quail and other small birds come through his garden. I found myself becoming envious and I began to resign myself to the possibility that all the birds would stay behind the house, in the open areas where they had more space and cover.

On the2nd day here while crossing the driveway, a pelican, none too gracefully, plopped itself not 10 feet in front of me. His crash landing made me think for a moment that perhaps he was injured. I had never been so close to one. They are very large! We stared at each other for a good 5 minutes until I had to continue my task and with that he flew away as pretty as you please. Hmmmm…..

I am not exactly sure when it dawned on me; I am pretty sure that it was the day I hit my head on the kayak. Three times that day an osprey appeared close to me, twice sitting on a roadside post while I was on my walk and once it flew not 2 feet off the patio, dropping a gift directly in front of me. Hello! What am I doing?! Here I am looking for birds, my angels, to come in a certain form, when duh! Open your eyes Jill!

When we arrived there were 3000 terns out front on the beach, day after day, diving, fishing, teaching their young to fly. For weeks they gathered here and we marveled at their numbers, and then enjoyed the quiet when they finally spread to some other beaches too.

After that the pelicans began arriving by the hundreds to fish the evening bait balls in the surf out front. Hours were spent watching them gracefully skim the water’s surface, catch an updraft, turn suddenly and crash into the water, repeating the whole thing over and over again. And now brown gulls have begun to intermix with the pelicans. Lots of them.

I had been looking for my birds, my angels, to appear as I expected it, as song birds, and all along they have been here in abundance! I just wasn’t seeing it….I don’t have to do anything to attract my angels, no seed, no water, nothing! They have been here all around me, just waiting to be recognized.

So often, in love, work or play, we want it our way, just so, never opening to the possibility that we can receive in a myriad of unique and different ways! Why do we limit what we will receive? And yet, such is often the case; I see how I had done just that. Now I am so much more pleased with everything around me. I stopped limiting my abundance.

You’d think I’d remember this lesson because the irony of it all is that the tag line for my garden sculpture business is “Why Garden Angels? …because angels come in unexpected forms.”