50 Comments
User's avatar
Helen Louise's avatar

You write beautifully Jeff and in such a way that I am transported to the contexts you describe. I join you in not being able to resist reading into the presence of particular birds. For me, in Cumbria it is the robin.

Expand full comment
Jeffrey Streeter's avatar

Thank you, Helen! Robins are wonderful, aren't they!

Expand full comment
Helen Louise's avatar

They are indeed and I am lucky where I live. I see plenty of them!

Expand full comment
Susanna Namuli's avatar

It's fascinating that you write about birding and choose to set some of the context within divinity and divination.

I'm always intrigued when I read stuff like this on substack.

Spirituality is commonplace where I live. But I think of 'the west' as form and matter; buildings, commerce, politics and intellect.

This morning I read a note by Natalie McGill an author on substack where she was responding to something written by Stewart K Lundy.

They are talking about seeds, nature and her cycles, and reincarnation.

You write about birds and their connection, in long gone societies, to divinity and divination.

Someone else that I encountered on Substack this morning publishes weekly ‘nature-based spiritual writings’.

I wonder; is it a thing currently? Is 'the west' curious about spirituality?

*Sorry to use ‘the west’. I simply can’t think how else to describe the places I’m referring to.

Expand full comment
Jeffrey Streeter's avatar

Thank you for such a thought-provoking comment, Susanna! I'm not sure I can help you much with your question, though. I've spent many years in places like Egypt, Ecuador, and Japan, where so many different ways of thinking about the world exist. Perhaps some of it has rubbed off on me. Or maybe these thing crop up in my writing because I keep bumping into pre-modern writing (such as Roman poetry, 16th-century drama), where things are also very different from modern rationalist, "western" thought. Or maybe the "west" is really also about these things, along with commerce, intellect, and empire? I don't know. What do you think might be going on?

Expand full comment
What to read if's avatar

This was so enjoyable. And the Eagle of the Ninth is wonderful?

Expand full comment
Jeffrey Streeter's avatar

Thank you. At that age, it seemed like the most dramatic, romantic story in the world.

Expand full comment
What to read if's avatar

Should have been exclamation mark, not question mark after wonderful...!

Expand full comment
Deirdre Lewis's avatar

I loved this. I am surrounded by all kinds of birds where I live (including once, a large vulture) and I always believe they are trying to tell me something.

Expand full comment
Jeffrey Streeter's avatar

Thank you, Deirdre. The vultures I remember from South America were a pretty taciturn lot. But who knows what they were thinking?

Expand full comment
Kathleen Clare Waller's avatar

Love this visceral reflection, Jeffrey.

You had me at “augury.” Love those lines from Hamlet, V, ii.

Expand full comment
Jeffrey Streeter's avatar

Thank you, Kate. 😊

Expand full comment
Rafa Martin's avatar

They tell us about the beauty and fragility of our world. During the pandemic they appeared in our silent cities giving us hope with songs and colours. Nowadays it's estimated that several dozen species go extinct each year due to habitat loss, climate change, and 'human activities' as "pro-life" as wars.

Some bird songs will be just a record of the past for rarity cabinets. Aswell, a language disappears roughly every two weeks. Their songs will follow the same fate. If anyone wants to predict the future take a glace to the really birds of ill omen. There's a Spanish proverb that sumarizes what is going on: "raise crows and they'll pluck out your eyes." That crowes are the killers of diversity.

Expand full comment
Jeffrey Streeter's avatar

Thank you, Rafa. So many bird species are under pressure, as you say. That includes the magnificent gannet, which has suffered hugely from bird flu.

Expand full comment
Nicola Miller's avatar

I love to hear the sound of migrating geese, letting me know that a change of season is coming. And talking of the rich life in hedgerows, do you remember the countless caterpillars we used to see, from colourful furry ones to smooth bright green ones? Unfortunately, children today grow up thinking today's hedges look normal but the absence of caterpillars suggests otherwise.

Expand full comment
Jeffrey Streeter's avatar

Thanks Nicola. Yes, we used to delight in the caterpillars as kids! I suspect a lot of kids from cities rarely see a hedge at all.

Expand full comment
James Marshall's avatar

Thanks for the memories. Rosemary Sutcliff has been cast aside from the publishing world like a disposable vape. Her books were wonderful and were popular in the 1970s and early 1980s. I missed out on the radio show, that sounds good. (the movie of the Eagle of the Ninth, with Channing Tatum, was poor).

There's a stone plaque outside Exeter Cathedral marking General Vespasian's westernmost settlement.

I've just finished the fifth draft of a YA historical fantasy novel set in Devon and Cornwall describing the tribes resistance against the invaders.

Expand full comment
Jeffrey Streeter's avatar

Thank you, James! You've chosen a wonderful era and setting for your novel.

Expand full comment
Holly Starley's avatar

Beautiful, Jeffrey. I love the final line.

Expand full comment
Jeffrey Streeter's avatar

Thank you, Holly!

Expand full comment
Victoria SkyDancer's avatar

I was fortunate to behold some ravens and a magpie(!) when I was recently in Alaska. The ravens were huge and could give my local crows a run for their money!

Speaking of the local crows, I have learned that they fly to their night roost about a hour before sunset. I know Spring is around the corner because I can hear the song of the hummingbird.

There is also a flock of feral parrots that have chosen my townhome complex as the place to bed down for the night. One of them regularly imitates the sound of laughter, which can sound downright creepy!

Expand full comment
Jeffrey Streeter's avatar

Thank you for being here and sharing your own experiences, Victoria! Ravens, hummingbirds, and parrots—quite a mix! Here there are parakeets (descendants of escapees from zoos or private collections). They keep a lower profile than the ones in London, but they are fun to watch. I was lucky enough to see them in their natural habitat along the banks of the Nile, and they seemed to chatter endlessly!

Expand full comment
Victoria Olsen's avatar

Are the photos yours? They’re lovely. These days I am enjoying the company of the black-capped chickadee, the tufted titmouse, and the occasional blue jay or cardinal. The bird feeder was a great gift. 😁

Expand full comment
Bree Stilwell's avatar

Thank you for your surprise arrival, Jeffrey—you liked a comment of mine in the midst of a very different topic and here I am! I’m just continuously tickled by the adventurous turns within this community.

While your experiences as written are fairly foreign to me, your curiosity and dedication to exploring the deeper meanings are not. Very much looking forward to traveling in your orbit.

Expand full comment
Jeffrey Streeter's avatar

Thank you for being here, Bree! I hope the gravitational pulls work in all directions.

Expand full comment
Delia Lloyd's avatar

I'm really enjoying this journeys around the world with you Jeff!

Expand full comment
Jeffrey Streeter's avatar

Thank you, Delia. It's great to have you here!

Expand full comment
Andrew Glass's avatar

Eagle of the 9th. Now there's a memory you've brought back. I was so upset about the ending.

That reminds me of a film around that time too...I was deeply disappointed by the ending and I absolutely can't reveal in public what it was, lest I be accused of all sorts of things (even if it was 1970 and I wasn't yet into double figures.

Expand full comment
Jeffrey Streeter's avatar

Thanks, Andrew. Sounds like a whole bundle of memories there... And please drop me a line privately about that film 😊🤫

Expand full comment
Michael Edward's avatar

This was fascinating, Jeffrey. Once again, you taught me something I didn’t know. And once again you did it with such beautiful writing. :)

Expand full comment
Jeffrey Streeter's avatar

Thank you, Michael. You're a very generous reader and I'm grateful to you for reading and commenting.

Expand full comment
Chloe Hope's avatar

Jeffrey, what a gorgeous post. How beautiful is your white-eye friend, and how aptly named is the Crow! Blimey! I can easily see how the Romans landed in the belief that the birds know something we don't, I'm always left with that impression myself. How lovely that you came to know birds from a young age, I think that's quite a gift, and offers a special way of viewing the world that's easily missed, otherwise.

Did you take the photo of the large billed Crow? It's gorgeous.

Expand full comment
Jeffrey Streeter's avatar

Thank you, Chloe. Birds have always been a part of my life.

I'm afraid the crow photo isn't mine. I have others of them but not close-ups. I don't have the courage to get that close or the camera to take that image from afar.

Thank you for your beautiful writing. Occasionally I wonder why I joined Substack, but one sure reason for staying is to read your work.

Expand full comment
Chloe Hope's avatar

That’s why I asked about the photo! I was wondering how close you’d got to one. I remember when I first went from caring for baby small birds to baby corvids, and some of the juvenile crows are massive (not large billed massive, but big enough for a first timer) and I was so nervous! Their beaks and talons could really do some damage if they wanted. Thankfully, they don’t want. They just want to be fed and doted on and are incredibly sweet, giving gentle little beak nudges as you clean them.

Thank you so much for your kind words, Jeffrey, I so appreciate your continued support. It makes all the difference on the ‘what am I doing??!!’ days :)

Expand full comment