Yes, this is exciting!

Fine, it’s by my own choosing. I was finding myself looking up birds that I saw, especially if they kept popping up in my life, if I felt a special affinity with them, or they were uncommon and I spotted them unexpectedly. I mean really, I do the same thing with animals (if I see a moose or fox or something else a bit elusive). However I get to see birds more often, so I’m looking them up more often!

So naturally (haha) I decided that the birds I see are actually spirit messengers.

(No killjoy comments please about the lack of rationality here; I don’t care, let me have my bird spirit guides.)

And thus begins a new feature on my blog! Guess what it’s called?!

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That’s right – Bird Spirit Guides! The idea is, with animals and common birds, you can generally find a site somewhere online that will outline the key characteristics of the creature and then interpret how this might relate to your life. Flickers, for instance, represent a new cycle in life, among other things. Meanwhile, you can’t really find resources regarding the symbolism of less common birds. That’s where I come in!

First up, we have the brown creeper.

I was sitting at the playground with our dayhome kids, watching them play from a nearby bench, when I saw this funny, little tiny guy land on a poplar tree. He landed near the bottom and slowly inspected his way up the tree, eventually ending up at the top. From where I was sitting, he was on the side of the tree so that I could see him in silhouette, which meant I could see his long, thin, slightly-curved, needle-like beak well.

Of course I texted my mom and asked her what it was and she knew, because that’s kind of a thing in our family. Well, she said either some sort of nuthatch (I can’t remember which one now) or brown creeper, but a Google image search quickly clarified it for me.

She seemed pretty excited and envious that I had seen it and said she had never seen one. I had no idea I had spotted something sort of rare until she said that! I looked into it and apparently they’re not rare, but they’re not commonly seen because they blend into the bark of the tree so well. Lucky me!

Can I just say, this little guy was adorable?!

All right, all right, on to the message. As interpreted by me via naturalist descriptions of our little brown creeper. What qualifies me to make this interpretation? Absolutely nothing.

Spiritual Message of the Brown Creeper

A brown creeper’s visit or appearance in your life is a loud reminder to stop and notice the hidden beauty and blessings around us. The most commonly noted characteristic of this tiny bird is its ability to hide in plain sight. What, or who, around you is hiding in plain sight? It could be the answer to a question you have been agonizing over, or the solution to a problem that has been plaguing you. The brown creeper is not, in fact, rare — but it is rarely seen. Spotting one could simply be a reminder to notice and appreciate life’s common but rarely acknowledged pleasures. Stop and take some time to think about the little things that are a part of your daily life that really make your day better. It could be a cup of coffee, your child’s incessant chatter (which is exhausting but you’ll surely miss one day), or the view out your kitchen window.

Another important trait of the brown creeper is that it is always moving upward — it can’t move backward/down the trunk of the tree. An excellent reminder to just keep taking steps forward, the brown creeper also reminds us probe carefully for opportunity as we go – – he finds insect eggs and other treats that are often missed by quicker, less fastidious birds because he carefully probes the bark as he moves up. Take your time, notice your surroundings and the synchronicities happening around you, and seize opportunities as they arise. And keep moving upward! Once you feel you’ve risen as far as you can, like the brown creeper, move on to the next tree.

One last note on the brown creeper: they escape their predators by keeping very still; because they blend with the tree, they are almost invisible when they are not moving. I will take this message to say that if you feel you are in danger, lay low. There is no need to puff up, make noise or flee. Just be still, calm and comfortable in your surroundings (and confident in your own skin), and the danger will pass.

Compiled with facts found on:

• https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown_Creeper/id
• https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/brown-creeper
• http://www.holdenarb.org/resources/BrownCreeper.asp

There are more bird spirit guides to come!