The Guardian

  Once upon a time, a wise priest told me – and I have no idea now why – “You don’t need to be the messiah. That job is already taken.”  Very wise words.  And as I said, it was so long ago that I don’t even know why he needed to say it.  I was probably trying to take care of something that wasn’t completely my responsibility.

And now, here I am, years later, and seem to have appointed myself the guardian of some baby sparrows – or sparrow eggs, I don’t know which.  As we have had for the last few years, sparrows have nested in the tree in our front yard.  One day, the sparrows were very upset.  I could hear them and wondered why, so I went outside to see what was going on.  A magpie was trying to get at one of the nests.  I started yelling at it, waving my hands in the air, probably looking like a crazy person.  But it worked.  The magpie flew away.  While I was still outside, a crow showed up, so I chased it away too.

And so, in the week and a half or so that followed, I have been chasing magpies and crows – and one falcon – away on pretty much a daily basis.  Well, except for the days we had terrible rainstorms.  No one was out those days if they didn’t need to be.  Not even the crows.

I hear the sparrows get upset, I look out my office window, see a nasty magpie or crow, rip my glasses off, run to the front door, open it hard to hopefully scare the intruder, and run outside yelling and waving my arms.  Or while I’m watching tv I see one fly by before the sparrows even realize it’s there and I run outside and chase it away. So far, it has worked.  Have I gotten there in time every time?  I have no idea, but the sparrows are still going into the holes in the tree where their nests are, so there must be at least one baby left.

As I was writing this, they were so upset that my husband could hear them from downstairs while he was working.  I couldn’t see anything out the window but they were more upset than I think I’ve ever heard them before, so I ran outside, yelling and waving my arms but realizing that I couldn’t see what they were so upset about.  Since we have had so much rain this week, there are more and more leaves on the tree all the time, making it harder to see.  So, I was outside yelling at something I couldn’t see.  Soon I will be known as the neighbourhood crazy lady, although it’s entirely possible that I had that title already.  The people across the street are probably looking out their windows pointing and saying, “She’s at it again!”

But earlier that day I had gotten out there to see a magpie with its nasty beak in the cavity of the tree where one of the nests is.  I yelled and waved my arms and not only did it fly away, but two sparrows chased after it.  I cheered them on, yelling “Go get ‘em!  Go get ‘em!”  My husband said maybe I emboldened them.

Should I let nature take its course?  Maybe.  But I feel protective.  They have babies.  Yeah, yeah.  The magpies and crows need to eat too.  And in the summer, we let them drink from the dishes and play in the waterfall.  They need water too.  But to eat eggs and babies?  They can go to someone else’s yard.  I’m sure sparrows have nests all over the neighbourhood.  Besides, it isn’t a fair fight.  Sparrows are little birds.  Magpies and crows are big birds.  Other than teaming up and being loud, what can the sparrows really do to protect their babies?

There is also a robin’s nest in the backyard.  I had no idea it was there.  I was leaning in to look at a plant and was told in no uncertain terms by two robins to get out.  I still don’t know exactly where the nest is, but they definitely made their point.  And I did listen for a change and stayed away, but we didn’t know what the perimeter was that would make them feel that their babies are safe.  One day, thinking I wasn’t too close, I leaned in carefully and quietly to pick up a branch that had come off a tree in the storm earlier this week.  Once again, I was told in no uncertain terms that I was too close.  But at least now we have a perimeter where we know – hopefully – that we won’t be bothering them.  My husband said maybe they need to get used to the fact that we live here too.  Under normal circumstances that is definitely the case and I tell them we live here too and we were here first.  When they have a nest, not so much.

So, hopefully in the weeks and months to come we will have baby robins and sparrows hanging around.  Hopefully they will live long enough to get big enough to hop around our yard exploring. They’ll find the bushes, the garden, the waterfall, and the dishes of water, having adventures and probably getting into trouble as all kids do.

In the meantime, I will do what I can to protect them, chasing bigger birds away.  We all need our protectors who help to keep us safe.  We’ve probably all heard at one time or another “Someone was watching over you” when we got out of a bad situation.  That could mean different things to different people.  My mom raised me to be strong and independent – she herself is a very strong and independent woman who I am very proud of and of course I don’t tell her that enough – but while I think I can take care of myself, I know that I need some help from time to time.

I have trouble with the idea of guardian angels, but there was one instance where there was definitely someone not only watching over me, but looking after me and keeping me safe.  I know it.  My guardian angel?  I don’t know.  But I do know that if that person hadn’t been in that exact place at that exact time, something very different would have happened, and I would have been in trouble.

And so, I am grateful to know that someone is watching over me, hopefully chasing the bigger birds away.