“Uncertainty is the refuge of hope.” Henri Frederic Amiel

“Uncertainty is the refuge of hope.”

Henri Frederic Amiel

3/1/21

As I was driving up my street about a week ago I caught a glimpse of a magpie (which I often see next to the park) with a stick in its mouth.  Nest building time already?  Yes!  It’s coming.  Even the house sparrows in my backyard are dancing the dance of procreation – the cloacal kiss, the brushing of creation parts to make new life.  Part of me was excited for the signs of spring and the change of seasons.  Part of me was fearful!  The baby bird season is probably the busiest time for wildlife rehabbers and this will be my first baby season on my own. 

I kept watching for the magpie hoping to see where its nest was located.  And soon I found it, a large bushel basket mass of large sticks in the top of a tree.  I’m glad I looked for it before all the leaves bud out because I would have never found it.  The female incubates the 6-7 greenish gray brown spotted eggs for around 18 days and the young leave the nest 25-29 days after hatching.  So maybe around the middle of April I will see fledgling magpies in my neighborhood.  I wait expectantly but without guarantees.  Life in nature is uncertain.

When the babies leave the refuge of the nest and the care of their parents, many dangers are present.  Hopefully they are able to navigate the world, but if not, I will try to provide a refuge for them until they can make it on their own.  Refuge.  Such a powerful and yet comforting word.  A condition of being safe or sheltered from pursuit, danger, or trouble.  From Latin meaning to flee back.  I wish, I try to take the baby birds back, back to their nest, their refuge.  But sometimes that isn’t possible, so if necessary I give them a new place of refuge in my home.

For many years, and still today, some people considered magpies as pests.  In fact magpies, members of the corvid family with crows and jays, are quite intelligent, sentient creatures.  I love to watch their flight patterns and antics in my back yard.  Magpies are viewed by some as one of the world’s smartest creatures and one of the few that can recognize its image in a mirror.  And despite efforts to eradicate them, magpies continue to thrive.

Places of refuge.  Places of hope for those that are fleeing.  Fleeing danger, pursuit, or trouble.  Fleeing uncertainty.  In times of uncertainty we look for refuge, we look for hope.  We certainly live in a time of uncertainty.  Like the nestlings and fledglings that fall or leave their nests, we are flapping around in an uncertain, dangerous world.  And in my flapping and searching, I find my refuge in caring for the creatures who are looking for a safe place too.  I find my refuge, my hope, in the uncertainty of winged new life. 

Where is your refuge?