Loving Nature on Nature's Terms: When birds go bad (and the nature of love)

Blackbird singing in the dead of night…

MORNING HAS NOT BROKEN, but your wings soon will be. 

I’m ashamed to admit these are my thoughts.

Every night for THE LAST 6 NIGHTS he has chirped and cheeped his joyful song from 11pm to 3am right outside my bedroom window. It pierces through my double glazing into my very soul. It started just after I declared my love for birds here in a 4-part RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch special.

My change of heart got me thinking. If I hate the bird I once loved, just because it does the thing I love at a time that’s not convenient to me, did I ever love the bird? Do I love nature on nature’s terms or my own? If I only love nature on my terms, am I just using it for my leisure and pleasure? 

This raises the question, what is love? I’ve come to agree with H&M’s Christmas carrier bags: “LOVE IS GIVING”. We shouldn’t demand a return for love, if we do, it’s not really love. A compliment, a card made, a meal cooked, a smile, a hug, an ear to listen, these are acts of love we can choose to give but the moment we insist (even if it’s inwardly) that they are returned, well I’m not sure it’s love? Are we just using people? Are we using nature?

I used to demand a return; I’d get fed up when I gave too much to a world that never gave enough. Then I realised the error lay with me, I should give these things for free or not at all. If I were to demand love – that wouldn’t be love. When I realised love doesn’t 'owe me' I had freedom. Of course there are healthy boundaries to maintain, like if someone’s being an idiot, tell them. Only give as much as you’re comfortable giving. It’s OK to ask for love, hope for it and respect someone’s choice to give it or not. Oh and be careful when giving trust, that’s different to love.

I must admit I do ‘love it’ when someone ‘loves me back’ but now see it as a gift, not a right. I’d not be where I am if it wasn’t for the great love and encouragement I’ve received, we all need love. But we can’t force anyone to give.

In CS Lewis’s brilliant book ‘The Four Loves’, he divides love into four main categories. He states the first three (affection, friendship and eros) come naturally but then there’s charity, without which the other three become distorted, bitter and dangerous. I think this has happened to me with that bird. He also points out we use that word ‘love’ far too easily, I love a blackbird, I hate a blackbird, I’m sorry Clive.

But back to the blackbird, you can get too much of a good thing, maybe it’s that. Like in childhood, Mars Ice creams were my favourite until: Mum went overboard and filled an entire freezer compartment with them (they were buy one get one free). I had one a day for two weeks and then… I hated them. Overkill can kill desire. Maybe if it was for one night only, I’d still love that bird?

Tonight when I return, if he's still singing I’ll try the Hawk silhouette from Kim Harding. I hope to scare him away. But then I think of how happy he is, so full of joy, who am I to spoil that? Maybe I should try better to love nature on nature’s terms….

UPDATE: Last Night Blackbird was back. I made a sleepy podcast of his torturous tweeting: 

Thanks to Daniel Prince who suggested I write this blog when I moaned about the blackbird. Image Credit: Alice Dodd

Comments

[Crafty green Poet]

I love being woken by the blackbird to be honest, I sometimes get up and go into the living room, open the window to hear it better.

[Ally]

If you listen very carefully, you'll probably find that the Blackbird is singing the 1993 song by Haddaway, "What is Love?" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_U6mWu1XQA

[Julia]

It's the same when you're camping in the highlands, you feel guilty for being annoyed at being woken up in the middle of the night for the start of the dawn chorus. ...but then you snooze a little and realise that you're on holiday so you can have a daytime nap if you want so it doesn't matter at all and the birds singing is just one of the reasons you love camping.
Being woken by a dog eating your only wooden spoon is a different thing entirely! We were not happy that morning...

[Emily Dodd]

Crafty Green Poet, does your blackbird keep more sociable hours then mine? I definitely won't be throwing the window open at 2am .....but 7am wouldn't be so bad, I'd like that, much nicer than my alarm clock's usual rude awakening ringgggggggg! (:

Ally - Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha - Loved it. Brilliant.

Julia, good point. When did a dog eat your spoon? I suppose it's like a bone.

On the blackbird. The weird thing is, it didn't happen last night, I'm not making it up, I have a witness, not a tweet. It's like he reads the Greener Leith Blog or something.

[Rebecca Boyle]

You sound so tired! I think the blackbird song is beautiful but I completely agree with you that it's not so great at two in the morning, but then if it's the only time it can sing because of our reliance on cars who are we to stop him? I'm going to suggest ear plugs or some white noise/ocean sound CD's. That way he can tweet to his hearts content and you can sleep until a more resonable hour

[Kim]

I can sympathise with your problem, when I lived in Aberdeen there were gulls nesting on the roof. For five months of the year I would get little or no sleep most nights. Aberdeen has the urban gull colony in the world and it is no surprise that it also has the worst mental health record in Britain. I know several people who have suffered nervous breakdowns due to sleep derivation.

[crafty greenpoet]

I'm not being woken at 2am just now, more like 6am. I sometimes can sleep through the blackbirdsong....

[Broughton Spurtle]

Your blackbird isn't singing. He's yelling 'You looking at my burd?' followed by 'Come over here if ye think ye're hard enough'. He'd probably be throwing beer bottles up at your window if he knew how.

[Emily Dodd]

Crafty Green Poet, Ally, Julia - I spoke too soon, it came back with avengeance Sunday night (see podcast now added above). There was me thinking it was over, he probably just heads up town on a Saturday.

Rebecca, thanks, good tips. I tried ear plugs last night - the thud of my heart in my ears was almost as disturbing as that bird. Like my head was about to explode. Then I removed one plug and stuck that ear on the pillow that worked (relieving the pressure and the d-dum d-dum). I'll give white noise a go too if I'm desperate.

Kim, thanks for the sympathy. Those gulls sound awful. Makes my blackbird almost cute in comparison. I say cute but there is still something slightly sinister about him. Plus I think he's getting louder nightly. And then I feel sorry for him since he probably would like the ladies to come along and admire his song but they're all sleeping. No one appreciates his Genius. The Mozart of Blackbirds. And then I feel guilty for being annoyed with him and I think of his happy face as he sings.

Crafty Green Poet - Bird Swap? It's like Wife Swap but we just swap Blackbirds? Then I'll maybe miss mine and realise I've been taking him for-granted. He'll have learnt valuable lessons during his time away and when he comes back, we'll move to the country and start a new life.

Alan, brilliant! Love it. Bet he could throw a bottle top at my window, I'll listen out for a tap.

When I said I got ear plugs at work today, a friend asked if they were to stick in his beak.....

[Crafty green Poet]

Blackbird swap, now there's a thing! Could be complicated though...

Julia's comment about the dog and the wooden spoon reminded me that yes there are worse things than being woken by a blackbird, a rabbit running down the hallway through the bedroom door and leaping onto your head can be pretty disturbing too.

[Rebecca Boyle]

On the subject of when birds go bad and the seagulls in Aberdeen check out this clip of the great seagull thief! - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl6fFA8r0NQ.

Apparently the seagull had a favorite flavor and when they moved the crisps from the usual spot he got confused and walked out empty beaked!

[Emily Dodd]

Crafty Green Poet - it always is. On the Rabbit, sounds frightening. Have you seen Donnie Darko? (:

Rebecca, that's brilliant, thanks, love they've added that tune too. Such a naughty gull. Kim, that's your Aberdeen gulls -high on MSG.