A study has shown that there are around 50 billion wild birds in the world. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/50-billion-total-wild-birds-inhabit-planet-study-estimates-180977753/

Birds outnumber humans 6:1. The way I see it that means each person alive today has 6 birds they can call on. 6 birds cheering you on, 6 birds by your side, or out your window, or sweeping across the sky above you, 6 birds nesting in your neighbourhood. They look out for you, you look out for them.

Miniature mirrors of our lives. First birthing then fledging, the unlikely gathering of all those fragile feathers that somehow makes the impossible possible. Feeding, mating, nest building, migrating, dying. Oh and flying – birds have that one up on us. Flying and the unstoppable need to sing their little hearts out at least twice a day. Greeting the day and the night just the same. Flying and singing. A little like the habits of the angels, so I’m told.

Odds are there will not be many days in our lives that go by without the sight or sound of a bird (or six). If we do have a day without our birds perhaps we will be graced with angels in their place. Reminding us we are never completely alone, that songs are sung even when we cannot sing ourselves, that freedom is on the wing even if we find ourselves trapped, that no matter how heavy things may become, some things are always, necessarily, as light as a feather.

_{Image by Oldiefan from Pixabay}