Summer Play

July 21, 2024

A small portion of the mallard army at sunrise, July 18, 2024.

One of my favorite summer games is trying to catch the swifts, swallows, and martins as they dive-bomb the water and make a splash. I can get lost in this activity for as long as my schedule, the light, and the birds will allow. (Note: I am also grateful for digital photography and the ability to throw away thousands of missed shots!)

Chimney swift zipping through the water.

As I watch the barn swallows, chimney swifts, and purple martins, I think they are playing. Dozens of fledgling birds splash through the water, pick up feathers, and chase each other around. The little fighter pilots have some amazing maneuvers as they twist and turn across the lake. To be sure, there are some bugs eaten but playing is the order of the day. The large squadron of mallards are all molting, adding hundreds of little feathers to the game.

Barn swallows chasing each other.

The game is simple but not easy. Catch focus on a fast-flying bird as they zoom, swerve, climb, dive, and circle around the cove and sometimes around your head. Catch the moments before, during, and after they enter the water. Bonus points if you can get the shot in the golden light where the rising sun is reflecting on the water without losing the bird as it enters the shadow cast by the trees.

Sometimes you get the light, sometimes you get the dive. Only rarely both together! (barn swallow)

The last few days have been unseasonably cool (a beautiful shift from the heat wave earlier this week!) which has added another dimension - try to catch the birds just as they enter the shadow where the mist is visible and the splash will catch the sunlight. This increases the level of difficulty because the camera doesn’t always go smoothly from full sun to full shadow and maintaining focus through that transition is a fools game with far more misses than successes. Luckily, I can be a fool in this setting. Expecting to miss, my inner perfectionist steps back and I find the occasional success makes me squeal with delight.

Chimney swift splashing in the shadow where the sun is glinting through the trees.

I took a walk down the dock after playing with the swallows for a while. It’s quieter now that the nests are empty. As I turned around I saw the light glinting off the cobwebs under the canopy. When the light catches a mist-covered web just right, it lights up with rainbow colors. I can see it with my eyes but capturing it with the camera has always been a challenge. Quite by accident today, I discovered that if my shot was out of focus, the colors became very vivid. This resulted in a new game, walking up and down the dock looking for just the right light angle to capture rainbow webs.

In focus…

…slightly out of focus

I’ve been thinking about play this week. I had the week off from my day job and Grateful Living was doing a daily practice called “reclaiming play”. I tend to think of myself as being “too serious” and want to be more playful with life. Paying attention, I realize I am playing much more often than I think when I’m out with my camera. Noticing that I was playing increased the enjoyment of it. I allowed myself to laugh out loud and take in the delightful, bubbly way play feels.

Watching the fledgling killdeer play while that golden light hits their ruddy feathers. That sun felt so nice and warm on my back too.

Some days it’s easier to play than others. Thursday morning I woke up with a sore neck, sore hip, and tired from a poor night of sleep. I went out for a walk and wondered how I might be playful when I really didn’t feel playful.

Baby ducks are always playful.

I found myself making up little songs as I went along. Some of the lyrics reflected how I felt (“I’m so tired, I’m so tired, I feel tired but it’s a nice day!” to the tune of “I’m so pretty”). Some were actual song lyrics I was reminded of (“Oh I could fly neath the wings of a bluebird as she sings”, my slightly incorrect version of “Daydream Believer”). Some were just silly, made up, didn’t rhyme properly, and often didn’t quite fit the tune.

The cuckoos play a game called, “hide from the photographer”. I can hear them though and their song is one of my favorite silly songs. Every time I remember that I didn’t think they were real birds until the first time I saw one - I thought they were only wooden birds in clocks.

I didn’t expect this practice to “work”. I didn’t expect it to magically change a challenging day into an easy one. It didn’t erase the pain or the fatigue, but I felt lighter about the day ahead. I found myself resting without as much complaint. Rather than just getting through the day, I found myself having moments of enjoyment. I ended up writing a Drops of Beauty post with the theme of “Happy as a …”. The practice did shift my perception!

“Baby lark, do do do do do do, baby lark do do do do do do…” (fledgling horned lark)

This focus on play sparked me to finally get some sugar and put my hummingbird feeder up for the first time in five years. Within an hour, two ruby-throated hummingbirds found my feeder. If you know ruby-throated hummingbirds, you know that two is one too many. One young male is now guarding the feeder and chasing off all would-be intruders. He buzzed my head when I went out to water the herbs as if to let me know that this was HIS feeder. I wonder how long it will take him to figure out I’m the one filling the feeder.

It’s his feeder now, lol. You can tell the young males by their throat, not yet full of rubies but working on it.

I didn’t realize how much I needed this feeder. I find myself looking out the window all day long and smiling every time I see that little green blur zip in and out. The sheer in front of my sliding glass door is open for the first time in the five years I’ve lived here and I am looking at my tree and the sky regularly. Every time I look outside, I feel my body soften.

Mr. hummer on his new perch in the willow tree.

I recently added two hummingbird tapestries to my office to soften the metal legs of my desk. I also added twin hummingbird curtains to the sliding glass door in the basement, directly below my office. I knew I wanted some hummingbird energy in my life and I’m starting to understand why!

Hummingbirds do have a lot of energy packed in a tiny body.

I learned this week that I’m more playful than I give myself credit for. The playfulness I recognized when I was younger and brought out when my nieces and nephews were small is still there. It’s a muscle that needs to be exercised, but the muscle memory is solid.

I’d try to pick up feathers from the water if I could fly too! (barn swallow)

My challenge for this week is to practice play when it’s even harder - during a work day. This week I also have to attend an in-person meeting for the first time in three years. I’m not sure how this will go, but perhaps even looking for playful moments will allow a shift, as it did on my pain-and-tired day?

“Whistle while you work…” (goldfinch)

It seems I keep learning that the things I want more of in my life have to be practiced. Trust, gratitude, and now play. They can be practiced when I’m not feeling them as long as I hold them lightly and don’t expect them to immediately shift the way I feel. They can be practiced not to banish the feelings I don’t particularly enjoy, but simply to build the pathway for the feelings I hope to have.

Playing with the light around the barn swallows.

If you want some play inspiration, this video was part of Grateful Living’s Reclaiming Play post: