Love Tests Of Spring. Discover Love Lessons I Learned From A Cardinal And His Own Worst Enemy

This morning I woke to the sounds of spring. The sun had barely risen when a cardinal repeatedly banged on my window. Bang, bang, bang–all day long. I’d almost forgotten how this wacky bird did the same thing last spring, when I was too busy writing my novel to ask myself an important question: What is this bird trying to tell me?

You’re about to explore some love lessons in the way birds face the Love Tests Of Spring.

Why does a bird repeatedly bang into a window each spring?

A bird expert explained that in springtime, birds are obsessed with mating, nest building and raising their young.

A male woodpecker attracts a female and marks his territory with rhythmic pecking known as drumming, a ritual of spring.

A male cardinal often attacks his own reflection in windows, thinking it is another bird invading his territory. Then he fights his own worst enemy all day long.

Why does a bird continue this banging for two or three months each spring?

The bird is unable to see that he’s fighting an illusion of an enemy, which is his own reflection.

How can you stop this banging, so the bird doesn’t hurt himself while he etches chips in a glass window?

Birds naturally stop banging their reflection as soon as the mating season ends.

What if you can’t stand to listen to this annoying ritual all spring?

You can tape a plastic owl or snake on the target window, and rotate the predators every few days so the bird doesn’t know it’s staged. If he senses that his adversary is stronger, he is less likely to attack.

Of you could tape dark plastic strips on the target window so the bird cannot see his full reflection.

Want to know what happened when I tried my own home remedy?

Well, I didn’t have any plastic predators or dark plastic strips on hand, so I taped a sheet of bubble wrap on the target window, covering the entire target zone. Then I went inside to wait and see if the remedy worked.

I barely sat down at my desk when I heard, thud, thud, thud. The bubble wrap merely cushioned the cardinal’s blows.

So what can we learn from a quirky cardinal?

Ask yourself if there is a thought, a memory, a person that you keep fighting?

Are you unable to see how they could be a reflection of your own limiting thoughts, beliefs or behavior?

Do you have a quirky habit that makes you your own worst enemy?

Will you keep repeating it, or do something to change it?

Did you have a different reaction to this Love Test of Spring? I invite you to leave your candid remarks in the comment box after this episode. Talk soon!

Hadley Finch