I have been astounded at my reaction and realizations around this apparent albino house sparrow that is floating about my yard. In the midst of a cloud of brown with tinges of black and white that is a flock of house sparrows swarming the ground around my feeders - there in the midst comes this angelic image that forces me to actually look at these birds. I cannot tell if this unique bird is behaving like a house sparrow or is the same size or shape - it is like an optical illusion demanding me to notice a bird simply as a bird. With all my negative history with house sparrows - the poop in the nest in the soffits of my home in Oklahoma, the swarming and emptying of feeders, their expansion into cavities and removing their use for migrants, the terrorizing of cavity nesting migrants, the out and out murder of competing species - none of this comes to mind when this white feathered image floats across my yard and nestles in the grass to find seed. Even all the sparrows around it seem different.
I am realizing almost a mindless mild disgust I have formed for practically all house sparrows instead of just the ones whom I have witnessed behaving in ways I view as detrimental to those species I like more. And they are just doing what house sparrows do - nothing more and nothing less. I notice how deeply seeded and simply acceptable this historical dislike is, almost something for which I hold myself higher with as I bash the species. I wonder where else I do this and to whom without thinking or even realizing. This bird is a blessing for me to notice my thinking and to look at personal, local, state, and world events and see how my thinking might play out in them. Yes I am imparting human characteristics and behaviors on these birds but a light is turning on for me to be awake - awake to my thinking and how my mind runs on autopilot based on my historical experiences - not simply appreciating the birds I see in this moment and appreciating the miracle every bird is. This unusual white bird demands my attention and I sit in awe at its presence in the midst of my world - knowing I am learning something I might have missed had it not flown in. And I am grateful. Perhaps such a lesson is available in every bird I see - more than just the beautiful feathers and uniqueness that birds are. The entire world plays out in every niche. And now it seems so in my passion of birdwatching. Thank you little white bird. I hope this wasn't inappropriate for this web-net but I just had to share this aspect of my birdwatching. Thomas Maiello Spring Lake Park
