Tomorrow is the day of lovers, but here, we’ve been watching courtships unfold among the wingéd ones for a while now.
Some have begun earlier than usual, thanks to the unseasonably warm weather of the last week; some are out of season entirely, the result of particular species of birds having chosen to winter here instead of continuing southward in their more customary migratory patterns. But many of our year-round species have also begun to pair off, building nests and readying for the arrival of both spring and offspring.
Those as yet unattached can be found seeking partners: displaying plumage, calling in strong clear song, and otherwise announcing their readiness to mate.Those already paired are engaging in romantic activity, as new partners court and those of somewhat longer standing set up housekeeping. In some species, the male brings gifts to the female — offerings, tokens of love, gifts of food to shore up her strength and nourish the brood she will carry, lay, and hatch. Once the eggs are laid, many of the males likewise assume co-parenting duties, and will continue to do so throughout their offspring’s formative months.
It’s beautiful to watch.
Sometimes, of course, the gifts are less practical, yet no doubt just as eagerly received. The corvids and the magpies are attracted by shiny things, marbles and beads and bits of silver and stone, and they will snatch them up and bring them back to their lovers to adorn their nests. Once in a while, they’ll leave something beautiful elsewhere, perhaps in trade, perhaps as a gift to someone or something else. Five years ago, a day and a half after losing our small black and white dog to cancer, I came outside to shake the rugs. There was an empty divot in the earth at the end of the stairs, no doubt a spot where one of the dogs had dug. I took one rug inside and came out to shake the next, and lo and behold, a small and ancient sherd of black-on-white pottery, the same colors as our dog, had been deposited in the divot. I know, rationally, that it was no doubt left there by a magpie . . . but the magpies wear the same black and white robes as both our departed dog and the sherd itself.
The sherd lives now in my medicine bag.
Today’s featured work brings all of these motifs to mind today: of lovebirds and their penchant for shiny, glittery things; the warm rose colors of the day to come; the spirit of renewal, of birth and rebirth. From its description in the Bracelets Gallery here on the site:
Taking Flight Coil Bracelet
Some call it the phoenix; others, the firebird; still others, a being with no given name. It is a symbol of metamorphosis, of rebirth, of freedom of spirit. Wings captures it here and then sets it free, spiraling upward into the air on a coil of earth and fire. Four small faceted garnet beads refract the light from either end; rectangular beads of earthy and colorful jasper, named for the great land-bound cat, alternate with nuggets of fiery iron pyrite. At the center, the small wingéd spirit, summoned from polished elk antler with inlaid eyes of jet, takes flight to soar above the world. Joint design by Wings and Aji.
Stainless steel; garnet; leopard-skin jasper; iron pyrite; elk antler
$225 + shipping, handling, and insurance
The garnet beads are redder than blood, deep wine-colored jewels that anchor either end. The leopard-skin jasper beads bear their famously mottled effect, but brick reds and warm roses predominate amidst the earthy tones. The bird at center, summoned from elk antler, is poised to spring onto the warming winds against a backdrop of shimmering golden pyrite.
It’s a small, simple, eminently beautiful expression of the season: of the day of the lovebirds, and of the renewal that they represent.
~ Aji
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