My Take
DiVoran Lites
This morning I heard a bird call that has become familiar over the past few days. It was a Tufted Titmouse alarm call. It sounds like a scrub jay call with a tweet on the end.
Our son, W. D., was here the other day and explained all this to us. He says it’s an alarm call that all the birds understand, and when they hear it, they gather around to see what kind of threat is imminent. In jungle movies, the air falls silent when danger lurks. In Florida when the Tufted Titmouse gets anxious, everybody gets anxious.
Going into the house, W. D. practiced the Tufted Titmouse call. Sheees, tweet, shees tweet. The cat heard him and, hunkered down to slink away fast. She ran into the dining room and peeked around the corner trying to figure out what was going on. W. D. and I decided it wasn’t just a bird alarm, but a universal animal alarm as well.
This morning I watched the tufted titmice through my binoculars. I didn’t really need binoculars but they bring the birds up close. I watched the two small birds doing touch and goes for a while; then the noisy one attached its feet to a branch and started shimmying his wings. He sheesh-tweeted frantically. The other flew down and put something in his beak and the light went on in my brain.
In this case, the alarm was coming from a baby Tufted Titmouse that thought he was going to starve to death between one seed and the next.
It reminds me of the world we live in where you can’t get away from the fear.
It also reminds me of a person I worked with once who had a talent for getting everyone all worked up over nothing.
But I don’t like being tense and upset, so I’ve decided that I’d seek the peace of God which passes understanding. Philippians 4:7
Related articles
- Summer Birds (thecreativecat.net)
- Thoughts in the Moment (bodhirose.wordpress.com)
- Sensing Nature’s Beauty in Sound, Scent, and Touch (birds.cornell.edu)
Old Things R New 
Thanks for linking my poem to your blog. I like your story of the Titmouse and their calls of alarm (or hunger)…and your slinking cat. We are still enjoying the Tufted Titmouse around our bird feeders…they are such charming birds. And yes, those babies sound quite excited when begging for food from their parents. Cardinal babies do the same thing!
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Enjoyed visiting your blog. It’s laid out so nicely.
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