Pablo Neruda on Joining a Conversation with Birds

Intimate images reveal the hidden beauty of birds

Short-eared Owl

I lose track of time when I am surrounded by birds. There is so much to see and hear and experience in every moment. A flock of House Sparrows in my backyard is as engaging to me as Bald Eagles on the Illinois River. In some ways, House Sparrows and other common birds are more intriguing. Close daily contact fosters a connection with these beautiful beings.

The more we can open ourselves and our minds to the mystery of birds, the more fascinating they become. Across the broad sweep of human cultures that have developed over the past 200,000 years, birds have been seen as deities, guides, tricksters, and healers. We have always revered birds, which led to a kinship embedded within a general appreciation for mutual relationships. Some human cultures view birds as people in another dimension. 

If birds are people, they are chatty people. The increasingly sunlit days of mid-February are filled with birdsong. Birds feel the pull of spring. Pablo Neruda describes how birds draw him into nature, where he invites himself to join their conversation. 

A provincial poet and birder, I come and go about the world,

unarmed,

just whistle my way along,

submit

to the sun and its certainty,

to the rain’s violin voice,

to the wind’s cold syllable.

In the course

of past lives

and preterit disinterments, I’ve been a creature of the elements

and keep on being a corpse in the city:

I cannot abide the niche,

prefer woodlands with startled

pigeons, mud, a branch of

chattering parakeets,

the citadel of the condor, captive

of its implacable heights,

the primordial ooze of the ravines adorned with slipperworts.

Yes yes yes yes yes yes,

I’m an incorrigible birder,

cannot reform my ways -

though the birds

do not invite me

to the treetops,

to the ocean

or the sky,

to their conversation, their banquet,

I invite myself,

watch them

without missing a thing …

A people’s poet,

provincial and birder,

I’ve wandered the world in search of life:

bird by bird I’ve come to know the earth…

One of the things I love about photography is the way it reveals details about birds that are hard to discern with the naked eye. The black tip on the wavy blue bill of a Mourning Dove and the lumpy irregular bowling pin shape of the intricate and colorful Mallard. The way Bald Eagles’ delicately folded feet combine grace and power. The mysterious rictal bristles or fine hairs that curve out and around the bill on House Sparrows. No one really knows what these hairs are for. They may serve to protect the eyes from debris. They are also sensitive to touch, airflow, and vibrations, and likely play a role in birds sensing their environment in ways that are beyond our understanding. 

The tiny ring of feathers that surrounds their eyes is another surprising detail. And those eyes! Glowing from within in an incredible mix of vivid colors. The hypnotic, haunting, bright yellow eyes of short-eared owls. The impossibly bright yellow eye of a Goldeneye and the radiant red eye of a mature Cooper’s Hawk.

Slow down and take a close look at these images. Open to the mystery.  

House Sparrow

Bald Eagle

Common Goldeneye

Dark-eyed Junco

Dark-eyed Junco

Mourning Dove

Eastern Screech Owl

Mallard with a full crop

Mallard

Mallard

European Starling

Cooper’s Hawk