We have a new alarm clock and it’s not one that you can set for the hour you want to wake-up, or one that you can turn off. It has a mind of its own and it doesn’t stop “ringing” until it’s ready to turn itself off, sometimes for a half hour. It’s regular every morning around 5:30. The problem is that 5:30 a.m. is not the hour we like to get up; it’s about an hour too early.
Our new alarm clock is a cardinal knocking at our bedroom window, and this happening has urged me to look up information about cardinals. Several sites on Google say a cardinal evokes a spiritual feeling. One says, “Someone who has passed on wants you to know that they’re thinking of you and looking out for you.” Another says that “angels are near.” There are many sites that signify good luck or good news is to come. Another says, “It is uplifting, a happy sign that those we have lost will live forever, so long as we keep their memory alive in our hearts.”
I knew the cardinal was uplifting, as it promptly lifts us up from sleep, but I didn’t know about the spiritual messages it brings.
A cardinal gave my friend a very spiritual experience. Her husband tried and tried for months to attract a cardinal to the feeder. He read articles on how to attract one and put out special feed, but no luck. On Christmas morning that year, he died of a massive heart attack. Later that day, when his wife looked out the window, she saw a beautiful cardinal in the feeder. It represented a good omen to her, and I just read on Google that “many people report having a visitation by a cardinal after the death of a loved one.”
When I checked information on a cardinal’s habits, I learned that they are territorial and don’t want other cardinals in their space. When it sees its own reflection in a window, it thinks it’s an intruder. So, it charges and pecks at it to make it leave. The intruder doesn’t leave so it keeps attacking it. The sun must be just right on our bedroom window at that time of day to make the window reflective. The information says this happens especially during nesting season.
The thing that surprised us when we cautiously peeked behind the window shade was that it was a female cardinal. I always thought male animals were the aggressive ones. She doesn’t just peck at the window, she lunges into it from a branch about two feet away — time after time, only taking short breaks in between. The breaks she takes in her wake-up calls is kind of like having a snooze alarm that stops for a short period, then rings again.
I don’t know how her bill can withstand such crashing. Her whole body must hurt, yet she doesn’t give up. If there were a military bird squadron, she’d qualify.
I was hoping the early wake-up visits were connected to one of the good spiritual messages, but Gerry got the message that he needs to trim the branches so the bird can’t perch near enough to see her reflection.
So, I think our alarm clock will soon stop up-lifting us. We’ll sleep later and the cardinal will think she’s successfully driven away the intruder. All three of us — Gerry, me, and Mrs. Cardinal — will be happy.
Occasional columnist Carole Gariepy of Phillipston has written seven books, all nonfiction. A recent one is a travel book, “Why Go There?” In her younger years, she was a teacher.