Message received

It’s been over two years since I’ve seen my cheerful red-headed woodpecker at my bird feeder. He’s such a striking animal – deep red head, shiny black feathers on his back and the top half of his wings and sharp pure white rump and wing tips. He’s a migratory visitor and I hosted him two years ago, but he didn’t show up last year. So this spring, I invited him back. I mean that literally. I really said aloud, indoors and out, “Red-headed woodpecker, I hope you visit again this spring.” Message sent.

And, I was very pleased and excited to see, message received.

Spring is a very colorful time at the birdfeeder with red cardinals, blue jays, white-throated sparrows with their white striped heads and yellow dot on the crown. There are goldfinches, purple finches, and the less colorful house finches. Other woodpeckers visit – downy and hairy, alike. Opalescent grackles and speckled starlings, sometimes in very large numbers, visit. Even the gray squirrels and variegated chipmunks look sharp against spring’s vibrant green grass. But these are all the usual neighborhood characters, and naturally they are all always invited. The word is out – no question.

But sometimes you have to ask, and when you do, you should be specific. You need to send your message. Only in that way can your message be received.

Is there something that you really want? Something you want to try, to do, to see, to learn? Have you said so – out loud to yourself or told someone else? Send your messages out there – out to the universe, out to your friends or just out to the mirror.  

It goes without saying that not all messages are received. You know that. But you also know this: the only messages that are received are those that are sent.

PS. When I entered the date I saw the woodpecker in my book, as any birder does, I saw that he was also here in 2020. So, maybe his migrations are biennial. Or maybe he heard my message. Either way, I’m very happy he or his progeny has returned.

© 2024 www.megreilly360.com

4/29/24