I awoke to the cacophony in the canopy above me The sound of a jungle, A jumble of singing All these voices like noises Clanging pots and pans Banging to wake up the sun When in the middle of the chaos Like a phoenix from the ashes Like sanity in madness Loud and clear Your voice became the only song I heard without a word you stirred the darkness into light With your cheerfulness, your chirpiness, your weird little quirkiness You sang the only song you knew how to sing Let your song be heard you funny little bird Sing the song you’ve been given It’s the only way to be livin’ Sing it loud, sing it true Cause little bird, that song is all you.
I call them the Strange Birds. They are my diverse bunch of students who are as wonderfully weird as I could hope for any humans to be. These kiddos are soon to enter middle school, the land of conformity. The place where being different is horrifying. I am all about giving them at least one small window in life where it is safe to embrace their inner weirdness. Ten to eleven years old is a wonderful phase of life where children are beginning to see themselves separately from the adults in their life, beginning to explore what being their own person means. It is a great time to be a Strange Bird.
I love pointing them to the weird things in nature: lichens, fungi, and snails are a good place to start. Lichens are a strangely beautiful groups of organisms that live as a community. Because they don't go alone, like other organisms, they can survive in unexpectedly harsh places. Fungi are incredibly intelligent organisms whose cellular structure is more related to lobsters than plants! There is also their secret underground life that keeps our forests connected. What is not to love about all the unique expressions of fungal fruiting bodies (aka mushrooms)? And snails? Well snails have all the weirdness. They have eye stalks and a foot. Some have teeth, lips or belly buttons. Since they are both genders in one body, they are able to use the gender that most guarantees reproductivesuccess in the moment. Snails refuse to be defined by what an animal should be. They live in the way that works for them.
But one of my favorite organisms to tell them about is a very strange bird, the American Woodcock, also known as the Timberdoodle. This bird is completely atypical. Its eyes are over its ears, its brain is flipped around and it has a prehensile bill that pulls worms from the ground as if it had a thumb and pointer finger. The timberdoodle flies close to 30 mph when soaring up during the breathtaking spring skydance. Then slows to a languid 5 mph as it twirls and twitters its way down. And this ‘twitter’ is actually the sound of its wings, not its vocal chords. Being strange is just how they roll and also what makes them so very wonderful!
(Image courtesy of Cornell.edu)
Read more about these incredible birds in a post by My Gaia here:
I have always been a strange bird myself. My students even call me the “Biggest Bird” of our strange bird crew. I have tried to fit into ordinary bird skin and it just feels so itchy. I cheerfuly jump out of bed by choice at 4:30 in the morning. I talk to trees. I still make fairy houses. I cheer on the monarchs every fall when I see them fly overhead. When I accept the wonderfully quirky things about myself, I find joy. And I usually find company (except, maybe not at 4:30 am.) It turns out, there are a lot of strange birds out there. Many of them are my friends.
Please feel free to sing a strange bird song of your own. All of our songs make the symphony of humanity incredibly powerful.
Just knowing someone like you is amazing! That we call each other “friend” is beyond joy to me.