Gather at the River
Winter has arrived with gusto here in the northeast. December came and so did the arctic cold. Now in January, our rivers and streams, ponds and lakes are covered with ice. What might fish-dependent wildlife do in times like this? Many, of course, have flown away to places slightly warmer, where they can find open water. Others stay. Even when finding food seems unlikely or even hopeless, they stay. They stay because they know a secret, that hidden in this frozen world there are small pockets where water still flows. And in these icy cold pools there is life, there is nourishment, enough for them to survive until the ice breaks in the spring. And there at the river, they gather. Great flocks of gulls, geese, ducks, and Bald Eagles gather on the ice and in turn ply the water to take what the river offers.
We are lucky to live near such a place. The small city of Cohoes is home to a magnificent water fall, where the Mighty Mohawk River rushes to join the Hudson. Even when largely frozen, Cohoes Falls propels enough water downstream that below the falls, pools of open water remain.
It is here that the birds congregate, rest on the ice, and fish in the pools, as we watch from above, amazed.
I stand in wonder at the intelligence of animals; how they know to follow the river to the falls.
I stand in wonder at the faith of animals; how they trust that food will be waiting even when all seems lost.
Here, at the river in winter, I stand in wonder at a gathering of so many birds, all with the intelligence of, and faith in, the water beneath them.
As we look ahead to a year dark with mystery may we find our river. May we have the intelligence and faith to follow that river to the place where it will offer us nourishment and peace. And like the birds, may we gather there.
Follow river, meet,
like Ducks, Geese, Gulls, Bald Eagles.
Trusting to be fed.
The birds gather to share the abundance of what the river. offers