The other day, I found myself engrossed in the construction of a feather. Under the bird feeders, there were two feathers. One was from a Redwinged Blackbird and the other from a Blue Jay. The feathers sat one on top of the other as if someone had carefully laid them on the ground. That was interesting enough but I was more intrigued by the way the sunlight played on the colors and the tiny barbs that held the feather together. The color was almost iridescent! The blues and blacks of the feathers sparkled in the sun. It is no wonder that birds are so beautiful! They wear the most exciting clothes! The barbs are sort of like Velcro. Once pulled apart, the bird can preen the feather back into place. This comes in handy since without that delightful trick, the bird would become quite ragged in just a matter of days. I tried my hand at "rezipping" the feathers..it did not work! How can a bird, that has no fingers, zip the barbs back together? I tried several times to make the feather all intact and pretty again but failed with each attempt. I am not good at this preening stuff!
It is small things like these feathers that I find most enthralling. I have said it before and will probably say it a thousand times more but I think folks need to start noticing the fantastical world around them. Folks..slow down a bit and take notice of some of the things that you are passing each day. These "unnoticed treasures" might not be around forever especially if we do not start taking better care of this old earth.
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