last update: may 24, 2025, 9:00am

in my neighbor's tree outside my window, there are stellar's jays raising a family. i'm familiar with the mama, she's loud and sassy, her hair always done. a month ago, i could hear teeny tiny tinny cheeping, like bells if they were hungry. that's how i found out she was a mother, and that it was spring. a few weeks ago, i saw little grey morsels bouncing through the branches to the fence and back to the leaves. when i looked closer, i could see their little heads of down spiked into tips, just like their mama. on tuesday, a gardener came and cleared the front lawn and trimmed the branches, and downed an old tree 20 feet away. i can smell the sap in the wind. i've been too in my brain to say hello to my neighbors so when the chainsaw sang, i hoped and prayed their home was safe. the babies must have flown the nest by now, but this morning i've seen two jay's (or the same jay twice) with mouthfuls of nest fodder bouncing through the branches to the fence and back to the leaves.

in the house next to the tree, a newborn baby cries. the mothers coo in the warm afternoons. their songs mix with the sap as the breeze rolls by. one mother gardens, while the other mother nurses– nesting. i wonder if they know that they are in good company. that the jays can help if they let them. that this mothering dance is ancient and new and gathering sticks and losing sleep and singing when it's safe. i hope to knock on their door or peek over the fence one day to introduce myself. for now, i just pray their home is safe.

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as i've been writing this, i've googled so much about stellar's jays and also have just been admiring this couple build their nest. they have lines of bright blue on their face, which i'm lucky enough to admire as they sit on the fence and survey where to go next. they've gathered each twig one at a time and sometimes grab chunks of mulch or some other soft heap of something. there's a big one and a little one, and these jays build their nests in pairs. they enter the tree from a hole in the top or work their way up from the trunk. their feathers are basically a deep iridescent blue. i feel so lucky. i hear my partner waking up to our alarm clock that sings recorded birdsong at 9am. i'll start my day and say hello. <3