Around the Bluhmin’ Town

By

Judy Bluhm

Need some good news? When feeling overwhelmed, check out the pair of bald eagles tending to their new baby eaglets. Live streaming, we can watch the wonders of nature.

Congratulations Jackie and Shadow! After many years of trying, the two bald eagles of Big Bear Valley, California, are now proud parents. It has been a harrowing rollercoaster to parenthood, filled with disappointment, loss and now hope. On March 4, two little eaglets cracked the eggshells and made their appearance known to the world. We rejoiced when a third eaglet was hatched. Then the blizzard came.

And so it goes with nature and life. Beautiful. Incredible. Devastating. We humans have plenty of “news” to fill our heads with worry. Maybe we watch the webcam of Jackie and Shadow because it takes us on a visual and emotional journey, where we can leave our world behind. We love to embrace the majesty of eagles, thrill to the joy of new life and all the hope that comes with it. And we also feel the pain of loss when a little creature is gone too soon.

Why God? Of all the days to have a blizzard, why then, in March, bringing two feet of snow? It’s tough enough to survive out there in the wild, and new eaglets only have a seventy percent chance of making it for the first year. All manner of mishaps can happen, underscoring that life (and death) is unpredictable and unscripted.

Nature. The wind that blows does not care about our roofs, trees, or nests. Snow falls without any concern whether it makes our roads icy or freezes the nest of two great eagles. Perhaps the greatest lesson that we can learn from wildlife is that resilience is imperative to life.

I watched a little sparrow build a nest (rather precariously) in a mesquite tree on my property. She gathered twigs, leaves, feathers, stalks and threads of ribbon (from a wreath I have on my front door). One day a wild and fierce windstorm came, tearing through the tree branches and blowing the nest to bits. And just like that, the bird’s little home was destroyed. But there is always tomorrow.

The smallest creature will rebuild. As if to say, “there is hope.” That same windstorm ripped apart a beautiful spider web that had been woven in between two bushes. It would glimmer in the morning sun as a small spider scurried about on the delicate web. After the storm, the spider started the process all over again, one silky strand at a time. The sparrow gathered more twigs and ribbon threads from my wreath and found a suitable spot to build a new nest. Even in the ruins of destruction, wildlife doesn’t give up.

Jackie and Shadow give us a chance to reflect on what is positive and hopeful. It is like a small miracle to be able to watch them caring for their eaglets who must be fed and protected. One parent must always tend to the nest, because owls may be watching. Yep, parenthood can be exhausting.

The best news this week? Life is precious. Rebuilding is possible. Storms may wreak havoc. We carry on.

Judy Bluhm is a writer and a local realtor. Contact Judy at [email protected] or visit www.aroundthebluhmintown.com.