Summer Solstice Reflections

Once again I have discovered that making one small change can result in wonderful big changes! But why is change so hard to make sometimes?

At least six years ago a friend gave me a Western Bluebird nesting box for my birthday. I loved the way it looked and rather than immediately taking it up the hill to affix to a fence post I kept it around as garden art.

I PROCRASTINATED. It looked cute decorating my garden but every time I looked at it I knew I was procrastinating. It’s too muddy up there”, I reasoned in the winter. “There might be snakes in the long grass,” I muttered in the summer. “My husband just doesn’t seems willing to help me with this project,” I shifted the blame.

I WORRIED. I worried about how to attach it correctly, “Should I use an ‘L’ bracket or nail it down?” Western Bluebirds are particular about which direction the entry hole faces.  “What if I put it up facing the wrong direction?” I fussed internally.

I MADE EXCUSES. I finally got the box up but it had been so long that one piece of the wooden top had split. No birds nested in the box for two more years. “This isn’t the right habitat for Western Bluebirds,” I reassured myself.

I FELT GUILTY. I know the habitat of the Western Bluebird is compromised and they have greater success nesting in boxes than in hollow trees.  I felt guilty so finally I put up a new box after Googling the direction for the hole which I determined with the compass on my Smart phone. I attached it with ‘L’ brackets on a 5’ fencepost and went to swing in the hammock. It was easy.

Suddenly this Spring our back yard has at least two nesting pairs of Western Bluebirds! One of them is in the box and another in a snag in our neighbor’s yard. As I observe with my bird watching binoculars it seems our yard is filled with lovely swooping Bluebirds. They hang out in family groups so we have the benefit of a whole congregation of Bluebirds! We enjoy flashes of blue among the olive and oak trees as they busily hunt for flies and caterpillars.

FLIES and CATERPILLARS!!! Oh my gosh, olive fruit flies and oak worm caterpillars plagued our back yard last summer. The flies ruined the olive crop and the worms denuded the oak trees. Google tells me that Western Bluebirds very effectively control insects in their nesting areas! Making the one small change by finally putting up the nesting box has had a big impact on the habitat of our yard. We anticipate a less infested olive harvest and leafy green California oaks.

So with a flash of blue in my heart I release a little prayer on the cusp of Spring becoming Summer, “Please God, help me with the little changes I want and need to make.”

Copyright © 2014 Gayle Madison