The Corona Virus has taken its’ toll on our planet and the signs are everywhere. The signs are unavoidable. Drenched in tragedy after tragedy this disease has swept its way into our psyche and changed our behavior as human beings. The impact of life under Covid-19 is immense starting out with the massive loss of human life and trickling down to the social isolation as we spend our lives working, learning and meeting in a virtual environment. But what good can we take from this experience? What silver lining might there be?
The Coronoa Virus became real for my family and I once schools closed. It wasn’t as if life gradually came to a standstill it was more like someone slammed the brakes on life. Sports stopped. Dance stopped. Commuting to work stopped. However, all of the stoppages resulted in more backyard ball games, more family meals and more one on one time with my wife and children. Oddly enough I feel like this is actually closer to the way life should be.
This July I began placing my phone near my bird feeder, setting the video to slo mo and walking away. I would let the camera run as long as I had storage space available hoping to capture birds flying into feed in slow motion. If I didn’t get any worthwhile footage I would delete the videos and keep trying. The process was time consuming and ended up taking all of my available storage space, but I got a few great moments on video.
The Northern Cardinal is our most frequent visitor so I had a number of videos showing them fly into feed and once or twice the male would fly in to inspect my camera propped up on our patio table. Watching these birds in slow motion gave me a new look into their flying of two strong wing beats and then a rest, two beats and rest. I also recorded a male cardinal at my feeding station who was joined by a female, presumably his mate. Upon her arrival the male snatched up a beak full of seeds and placed them in her open mouth as a gift. After doing a bit of research I found that this behavior is not unusual and learned that cardinals are known to mate for life and have long been symbols of fidelity and romance. Who knew?
The slowing of life has come in concert with the arrival of Covid-19. Being an optimist and trying to look on the bright side to the turn that life has brought us all these past five months I know I have enjoyed the much slower pace of life brought about by quarantining and social distancing. With sports and activities cancelled and work put on hold I have reveled in the increase of family time with backyard games, family meals and more time to enjoy each other. Slowing down life has some real benefits for me as does witnessing the natural world in slow motion.
the suburban naturalists 