Our daily walk was later than usual yesterday. Sundays have always been busy days in our house and so it didn’t seem exceptional that we went into the church early for a bell choir rehearsal. After worship we had a little break before confirmation class started. We’d brought lunch from home and a hot cup of tea and a sandwich gave us a boost of energy for the afternoon’s activities. After confirmation class, we rushed to get ready for a family event. It was fun and exciting to see families with children learning about Lent, making pretzels, creating torn paper art, collecting items for a scavenger hunt, and making chalk art. By the time things were cleaned up, the building secured and we were on our way home, we began to feel a bit tired. A quick change of clothes and we were off on our walk.

Because it was later than usual, we just walked down to the beach and back - a half hour walk shy of two miles. After spending most of the day in the back yard, my sister’s dog, who is living at our house temporarily, was ready for a walk and it felt good to us to stretch our legs. As we walked we remarked about the difference a month can make in the amount of daylight in the evening, especially when that month includes the change to daylight savings time.

When we reached the beach the tide was out and a large flock of Western high Arctic brant were feeding on the mudflats just off shore. The small geese look a lot like ducks at first glance, but they sound similar to Canadian geese. Locally the brant are sometimes referred to as gray-bellied geese. One of the joys of walking in our neighborhood is the wide diversity of bird species that we can watch. Just a day earlier, we took delight in watching a bald eagle eating a fish atop a post. The great blue herons always delight us with their graceful flight and somewhat less graceful transition from flying to standing in the water. The seagulls and crows provide raucous commentary on the beach with loud cries that can be heard a long ways away. Flocks of ducks and geese are common and we often see different varieties of ducks mixing it up along the shore.

The brant, however, seemed to be keeping to themselves yesterday. We haven’t lived here long enough to know which bird sights are rare and which are common. After i got home from our walk, I looked up the brant on the Washington Department of Wildlife website and discovered that brant population has experienced a long-term decline in numbers. The reasons for the decline are not fully understood, but could include increased water-based recreation, commercial and residential development, shellfish harvest, and fishing. Since the brant consume eel grass another plants that can be damaged by oil spill, the presence of several major oil refineries along the coast may also be a factor in their population numbers. It seems like we were experiencing a treat by being allowed to watch the brant feed as we stopped for a sip of water before climbing the hill back up towards our home.

The Western high arctic brant are closely related to black brant, which are also seen in our area. The brant are not year-round residents of our area. They winter here and move north to the Parry Islands and inland across far north Canada including Northwest Territories and Nunavut. I guess you could say that they are at least as Canadian as the Canadian geese that we also see and hear on our walks in this area.

As long as I can remember, I have enjoyed watching birds. I’ve never been what I consider to be a birder. I don’t keep a list of the birds I have sighted. I don’t know the names of many of the birds that we see. But we do keep a couple of bird books near the windows of our home and we refer to them frequently to identify the birds that we are watching. In a way my appreciation for birds may stem from the fact that I grew up in a large family. I didn’t have a bedroom to myself until I was a college student. Our house was always full of people and there weren’t many places indoors where one could be alone. Outside, however, I could have all the space I needed. It was a short walk from our house to open fields and places where I could watch the sky and pay attention to the birds. The magpies and crows always offered entertainment and I enjoyed watching them fly. I often saw geese flying higher up and wondered at where they were going. They seemed to invite me to travel in my imagination even though my feet were rooted firmly to the ground.

Now that the years are adding up and I have had the opportunity to travel, I still enjoy looking at the birds and thinking about their lives. I know a couple of snags where we frequently see eagles. I know their nests are probably nearby, but I haven’t found them yet. The heron rookeries are a bit easier to locate and they are busy building nests right now. The crows seem to also be busy as well. We recently saw a crow with a stick that seemed to be a bit too big for the bird, but it was flying with the stick in its beak, headed for a nest site. Dogs, children and crows all seem to be interested in carrying sticks just a bit too big for convenience.

It seems a blessing that I am aging along the west coast, where the sunset provides a dramatic vista most evenings. The ocean provides a wilderness close at hand. The birds remind me of our connectedness to all living things. And sometimes, my days make me just tired enough to appreciate the end of the day when I can sit and think and watch the world and leave the intense activity to other creatures.

Life is good to us and I am grateful.