Since I have had more time at home the last few weeks, I refilled my backyard bird feeders. Usually, I only feed the birds in the winter. But this summer I did it so that I could enjoy the birds’ visits.

            And the birds came! My back yard was visited by hundreds of birds. Some were at the feeder and many were on the ground. Flocks of sparrows and starlings came. Mixed with them were cardinals, doves, two types of finches, and even a warbler or two. As they were feasting below the feeder, right in the middle of the frenzy was a lone chipmunk! That mammal seemed at home surrounded by all those birds.

            The phrase is that ‘Birds of a feather flock together.’ Many times that is true as we see birds of the same species form flocks to prepare to migrate south.

            But at the feeder they were all mixed together. In fact, some of the birds at the feeder even seemed to scratch food onto the ground for those like the doves that are ground eaters.

            If varieties of birds can gather at the same feeder and even include a chipmunk, I wonder why people can’t make room for others of different backgrounds to join them.

            After Note: I wrote this brief meditation before Saturday’s horrible show of hatred in Charlottesville, Virginia. Now I really wonder why people can’t learn to live together instead of choosing  hatred and bigotry as a way of life. - hw

“After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches* in their hands.”

Revelation 7:9