As I pulled down my driveway last Friday a flash of brilliant blue caught my eye. My focus followed the flash and within seconds I recognized it as an Eastern Bluebird. What joy flooded my being! What was it about this vivaciously colored songbird that brought me such joy and hope as a harbinger of happiness?
The Eastern Bluebird is considered fairly common in the Northeast although this was perhaps the fifth time in the six decades of my life that I have had the pleasure of one’s company, however fleeting! Their range is from the Rocky Mountains east, an enormous area. Their favorite habitat is the forest edge, where forest meets farm and field. This may help to explain why I haven’t seen them very often. It has been many moons since my area of New Jersey has been rich in edge of forest habitat. Bluebirds eat small fruits and hunt insects, spiders, and other creatures from above so technically they are predators. The perch, watch, and then swoop to the ground to pounce on their prey.
From where did this connection between happiness and Bluebird that arose in my mind/body arise? First of all, there is the beauty and surprise of seeing a quickly moving object of brilliant blue flash by. As I consider the color of a Bluebird I am not recalling many instances of naturally occurring living beings this color, at least not in our ecosystem. There are blue skies, precious and semiprecious gems, bodies of water, pigments, certain flowers, tropical butterflies, common blue damselflies, blue lobsters (occur one in a million), blue poison dart frogs, Hyacinth Macaws, and even a blue human being, 59-year-old Paul Karason who apparently has blued himself unintentionally by ingesting colloidal silver in solution as a health tonic! So simply seeing a brilliantly azure being here in my mid-Atlantic mixed hardwood habitat is a treat!
Then there is the mythology of the bluebird of happiness that that reaches back thousands of years. Bluebirds are a widely accepted symbol of cheerfulness, happiness, prosperity, hearth and home, good health, new births, and the renewal of springtime. In magical symbolism, bluebirds are used to represent confidence in the positive aspect and egotism in the negative.. [1]
Finally there is the song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” from the Wizard of Oz. Since childhood this has always been one of my favorite songs. It associates Bluebirds with a land where beauty, kindness, and love are the norm. Wherever it came from, that Bluebird crossed my vision and my heart quickened with joy and appreciation. I felt a change in my internal landscape and a refreshing of the screen of my mind that is lasting for days. May a Bluebird cross your path soon and may we all be open to the miraculous quality of our natural world, wherever it may waken us!
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluebird_of_happiness
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Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly.
Birds fly over the rainbow.
Why then, oh why can’t I?
If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can’t I?
Lovely Post. Papi Jo Jo
Today is 12-12-2012 at 9:30am this mourning outside it is 35 degrees and I had three blue birds on my deck and eating bird seeded and berries off one of my bushes in my yard. I grab my camera and took 18 pictures because this is very usual for the blue birds to be out this time of year in Newtown,CT. It was such a delight to see my favorite blue bird. That is my God sign. What a great day!
Thanks for sharing your amazing sightings. Send your best photos via file and I will enthusiastically post them. Three blues at one time, WOW. A harbinger of miraculous times!
Just saw a bluebird in a field of trees downed by Hurricane Sandy in NJ – after an absence of sightings for about 10 years!
I’m reading your post in February – realizing you saw the three bluebirds,
your sign from God, just a couple days before the Newtown shootings.
That tells me that God”s presence was there all along, and preparing you for what was to come … May you always feel the happiness of that presence, no matter what! And aren’t the bluebirds just thrilling and beautiful to see…
Thank you so much for this inspiring explanation of what a blue bird may symbolize. My sister-n-law gave me a small rinstone blue bird pin. I have just completed seven weeks of chemotherapy and radiation. I knew there had to be a deeper meaning to this pin, she had cancer ten years ago, plus she knows how strong my faith is.
Again, thank you for bringing “happiness” my way!
Hi Patricia,
Congratulations on your completion of your round of treatment. This is no easy experience. I have had my own experiences with treatment protocols and know how poorly one can feel while experiencing treatment that is ultimately leading to wellness. With strong faith and the small rhinestone blue bird imbued with your sister’s love I am confident that you will evolve on your healing journey. My best to you.
I’ve only spotted blue birds twice that I recall. The most recent on May 16th as we progressed to the National Cemetery in Leavenworth, KS to bury my beloved aunt. My heart soared and I believe the blue bird was a sign confirming my aunt’s spirit.
Hello Mary. Thanks for commenting on my Blue Bird of Happiness post. I celebrate your heart soaring! The idea of the blue bird being a sign of your aunt’s spirit is a lovely one. It makes my heart soar. I appreciate you sharing this with me. May her soul be joyous at its release and may more blue birds cross your path. Their beauty is breathtaking, that flash of color!
I too felt a joy and comfort from sighting a bluebird for the first time in my life at such a distressing moment in my life. My mom past recently in PA. Before she passed she was in hospice for a week. My family was together and although we care for each other there was such a broad spectrum of feelings we went through from sadness,crying,laughing remembering old times to being at odds with each other. I was mentally exhausted and needed time to myself so I went for a walk. I’m crying as I’m walking and came to a beautiful setting. This particular home had a newly planted garden with a decorative banner of a bluebird. There was also a bird feeder so I sat on the edge of the road dried my tears and watched the birds as I prayed and spoke silently to my mom asking for a sign that everything would be ok. I saw a beautiful yellow finch and several other birds. I thought to myself, I’ve never seen a bluebird in real life how I would love to see one. In a short while my mom sent me a heartwarming sign when to my joy I watched as a bluebird perched by the feeder enjoying its breakfast. I had such a feeling of peace. It was a beautiful moment I will always treasure knowing my moms spirit is with God
Thank you for sharing this beautiful and heart warming story. I apologize for not getting back to you sooner. Situations arose that diverted my attention completely away from my website. I pray you are discovering the continued presence of your mom in your life. I saw the life leave my mother’s body in 2008 yet I feel her with me daily.
I honestly do not recall ever seeing these beautiful birds until recently. I live in NE Ohio, and am so excited to have a pair of bluebirds moving into a small birdhouse in my backyard! As a single mom of a special needs child, life can be challenging. Seeing these birds building their nest together is such a joy, and it gives me hope. Thank you for your post – I truly found it helpful!
These stories of bluebirds are remarkable and confirm for me the significance of the one I rescued last evening. I saw it fall from the sky moments after recounting an incident about a fallen bird that symbolically related to the passing of a loved one several years ago. So eerie to have this bird fall in front of me at that moment. I hope never to lose the ability to notice those precious gestures and serendipitous events from which I find joy and meaning. I’ve taken it to a songbird rescuer and hoping it will recover.
Having a bluebird fall out of the sky in front of you and be alive enough to take to a rescuer is remarkable under any circumstances let alone after reconting a story attached to the passing of a loved one and another bird which fell out of the sky. I laughed when I read “I hope never to lose the ability to notice those precious gestures and serendipitous events…” I can’t imagine how you could miss an event like that or experience it without joy and wonder while there is breath left in you. It sounds like you are a very connected human being. My prayers are with your songbird as well.
Hello there,
My name is Zac, I’m in the Western MD area, today I was out today 5/12/14 collecting signatures for my work in an large apartment complex, when I noticed a baby bird shaking on the ground, I looked a little close and instantly felt so much sorrow for this little helpless animal destined for death when suddenly I noticed not even 3 more feet away 2 more little things eyes wide open just screaming with mouth to the sky, I just got a feeling that I had to help these three little birds, I instantly starting “googling” bird rescues or sanctuaries and luckily for them I found a number for Little Wonders. They asked if I had a way to bring them in to the rescue and I didn’t have a car, but as luck would have it my father was living in the same part of town I so happened to be working in at the time. I was able to convince him to drive me about 40 minutes away at sunset to a place we have never been to rescue these orphaned baby birds, upon meeting these wonderful people it was announced the 3 little baby birds were Blue Jays. I feel like the symbolism that is often linked to these birds is at least able to be confirmed by myself somewhere deep down inside I felt hope I could help them even though I’d never rescued wildlife before or had any knowledge of such. What really upset me was the way a passer by living there at the apartment complex said “ohh well let Mother Nature take its course” the lack of knowledge and sympathy for innocence is horrific to me, I know he wasn’t aware but only about 2-3 years ago that area had been farm land and Forrest that the city purchased and commercialized for a new shopping center and additional residential zoning. I’ve heard that birds often nest in an area they were born and familiar with so maybe a decades worth of family history is what caused their mother to choose a laundry vent on the side of a apartment complex because her natural instincts caused her return to a area that humans had totally altered. I hope that these little things make it back to the wild and hopefully they return to the people who are rescuing them to bring them hope in their cause at the rescue. Given the situations in my life this occurrence reassures me there is always hope and with all the challenging things in my life I feel something good might be on its way for me….
human beings miss out by being humanocentric. hang in there. you support life. life will support you. keep your lovinkindness open.
Today I was at my kitchen sink and looking out the window, when sitting on my deck rail was a bluebird.I have never seen one before but I feel it was a sign from my Dad, who died May 1, 2015 of cancer, I feel seeing the bluebird let’s me that he is telling me that he is now safe,happy and full of joy now that he is in a better place and painfree, I also feel that the bird is my Dad letting me know that he loves and misses me and that I should be happy and not worry about him as he is in a safe place.I now believe he is in a safe and joyous place