Black-chinned Hummingbird : Reclamation

This is a Black-chinned Hummingbird. I saw her at my usual park. She’s a typical beauty for me to see here now. Recent arrivals to this park, and I include myself, could easily take hummingbirds for granted because they’re so common. But today’s common bird may have been much rarer here recently. This park is an engineered product of reclamation. A handful of years ago, our local Audubon society re-wilded this area. Invasive species were removed, and native flowers and grasses were reintroduced, restoring nature’s original design. My opportunity to see - and share - this hummingbird derives directly from that work of restoration.

I recently shared a meal with two wonderful Israelis. Israel is a phenomenal example, perhaps the greatest in recent memory, of engineering and reclamation through conscious design. Until the early 1900’s, the land of milk and honey was in many ways just a longed-for memory. Instead there were swamps, parched fields, and rock after rock. But the people who returned transformed the Land, enabling agriculture and homes. They made the desert bloom. Now, decades later, my new Israeli friends and their organization are working to fine-tune those efforts and are re-wilding habitat to recall the animal life that also makes its home here.

This process of restoration isn’t limited to only parks or fish ponds. As people we also profit from restoring natural balances and original outlooks. Think of children who hold no prejudice. Recall your excitement at learning a new skill. So how do we uproot our psychological invasive species? Our tradition teaches that we donate tzedakah to further justice in resources. Our tradition teaches chessed, the natural loving kindness we harbor towards others. And our tradition teachers teshuva, literally “returning” to original conditions. In the parks of Austin, it means we see Hummingbirds again at Commons Ford. For ourselves, it means living the richness of our Divinely intended lives.