It’s late in spring migration, May 17, 2025, but this year migration seems to be running later than it sometimes does. It’s windy and cool for May, around 55 degrees Fahrenheit. I wonder if spring migration will still have surprises for me today - is it too near the end? Is it too windy to find little birds in the branches? Will this be the day it starts to settle into summer?
As the sun rises over the tops of the trees, I survey the lake. Swallows are flying over the surface of the lake, perhaps tree swallows and cliff swallows, though they are too far away for me to be sure. A few spotted sandpipers land on the rocks nearby. I can hear a yellow warbler, a Baltimore oriole, and a red-winged blackbird in the nearby trees.
And then it happens. I see one bird, then another, then another. Swooping and diving, passing nearly right over my head, making squeaky noises I’ve never heard before. Black terns!
The terns are swirling, diving, moving individually and as a group across the lake. As they move away, they blend so well with the water and the background I can barely find them even with my binoculars. Sometimes they disappear altogether.
Black terns are so graceful as they glide. They turn quickly and swoop at the water or for a bug in the air, changing directions so fast it’s almost impossible to believe.
The terns are gracious enough to come back many times over the course of about 45 minutes. They move up and down the lake, swooping over my head each time. They reappear so quickly, they are right on top of me before I see them!
I rarely see black terns and I’ve never been this close to them. I smile and laugh as I try to catch them with the camera, listening to their calls and trying to soak in how wonderful this feels.
I stay until I’ve taken over 700 photos and the boats are starting to appear on the water in greater numbers as they do on weekends. As I finally head out for a walk, I let myself really soak in how amazing this experience has been.
This is spring migration. A series of experiences. Moments of wonder. Moments of awe. Moments of overwhelm in the most amazing sense of the word. I want to write the stories - ALL the stories - that have swirled in my mind for the past few weeks.
Each day brings different stories. Each day I stay out as long as I can, coming home only when I have to get to work or other chores. I don’t have enough time to write the stories while they are fresh.
I dream of the day when I can come home, have breakfast, and jot down the stories still fresh in my mind. And yet, I don’t want time to move any faster. For now, I make some cryptic voice notes on my phone and then try and recreate them from the photos when I finally get to processing them.
What I can do, what I have been doing, is to pause with each experience and make sure I really breathe it in, playing it through a few times in my mind before I move on to the next thing.
When my mind begins to play out a worst-case scenario, which my imagination is way too good at, I’m practicing a new strategy to manage it. I see the thing I’m afraid of as a spinning tornado. Then, I see the tornado stop and begin to spin backwards.
Yesterday, when I got overwhelmed with all the things that are happening in our government, I let myself see it as a huge, black tornado spinning across our country, a technique suggested by my therapist. Then, I began to spin it backwards. As it spun backwards, the black began to clear and flecks of gold and colors started to appear. Then I realized it was a swirl of birds—terns and swallows, swirling, carrying this big swirl of blessings all across our land.
My visualization may not bring world peace, but it can help me be better prepared to take on the challenges life brings. It can help me clear the consistent worry from my mind, which in the long run helps me be healthier and bring more kindness to the world. This is a much better use of my imagination!
My mind certainly needs a lot of managing. How do you manage your mind in challenging times?
"This is spring migration. A series of experiences. Moments of wonder. Moments of awe. Moments of overwhelm in the most amazing sense of the word. I want to write the stories - ALL the stories - that have swirled in my mind for the past few week"
This is how I'm feeling right now, too. I take voice notes (when I'm driving, I tell Android Auto "send a text to myself" and dictate the notes I'm afraid I'll forget once I'm parked) and try to put stories together from notes and photos, but there are so many moments worthy of sharing that it's hard to finish one story before the next story happens.
Those images of the Black Tern are stunning, Karen. I have never seen one before. That photo the tern from the front is awesome and I do see how they could disappear like that!
The two photos of the Pileated Woodpecker are excellent - I especially like that first one with their wings extended in flight. Thank you for sharing.