“What we do to serve life automatically benefits all of us because we are all included in that which is life. We are life.” David R. Hawkins

The over-washed, dormant, nest of Long Beach.

Wed. June 22nd, I biked our Long Beach boardwalk, feeling the sun, smelling the sea, sometimes coasting just for the fun of it. I remember being a teen in the long summers of my youth when I’d sometimes peddle, peddle, peddle, my one speed bike, then just coast…and glide along, feeling the passing landscape on either side of me. When I do it now I get much the same feeling. I’m a gull on a Raleigh bicycle.

I biked the boardwalk till I came upon the long dormant eggs of the Long Beach oystercatcher’s west nest.

Three eggs that were laid late April/early May, were the victim of a spring-tide over-wash  on May 7th. Photographer, Anne Bickford (Her Oystercatcher Chronicles group:https://www.facebook.com/groups/537744663096107/ ) reached out that day with an act to serve life by rescuing the eggs from the tide wash. Whether that act was successful is besides the point. Her action rose from an innate place of service to life:https://leebythesea.me/2016/05/13/compassion-on-the-sand/

As I watched the nest I noticed that even the heavy beach equipment, beach rake and trucks, thundering over the sands nearby could not frighten off these nesters from their eggs.

Rolling thunder doesn’t budge the protectors.

The changing of the guard, from one parent egg-sitting to the other, revealed there were still…two hopeless eggs left.

A peek in the two-egg nest.

Today, seven weeks after the 46 degree tide, eight weeks after the laying, the eggs were still being sat. Normal incubation time is four weeks. The oystercatchers simply will not quit.

Relentless service to propagation of life.

As reported here previously, the older, more experienced layers know there should be a heartbeat and when they experience none, they will abandon the eggs. When the layers are young and inexperienced they will continue to sit:https://leebythesea.me/2016/06/01/heartbeats-in-the-sand/  Such is their tenacity, their instinct, their nature, to serve life.

Mom resits the egg, going on two months.

Sat. June 25, the beach was summertime sunny with a temp of 81 degrees. And there in relentless heat of early summer, the oystercatchers sit.

The unyielding shore birds sit, sit, sit…

Precious life is nurtured sometimes long after there is reasonable expectation of viability. I think there’s  a life respect, a life bond, among creatures that trek planet Earth. Certainly not all creatures at all times, it’s definitely a work in progress, the word “evolution” comes to mind.

But sometimes it’s even species to species. It comes from a oneness place in all of us. A place that some of us are not even aware exists. However, some of us are profoundly aware. And we see it.

A few weeks ago, Anne, the same photographer, (Does she not have a home? Word has it she does consider the beach…her real home.) came upon a beached shark. It appeared to be over six feet in length…and it was dying.

Photo by Anne Bickford

A man called, Peter was with the shark. He and another man tried to drag it back to the surf but the shark’s weight made it impossible. So Peter just sat with the shark…petting it. Yes, petting it.

Photo credit Anne Bickford

One planet-Earth creature giving comfort to another. I think the act comes from the same innate place, a place of reverence for life. A place that moves life to serve life…even if just to comfort.

The shark may not have interpreted the contact as comfort…or maybe it did. But the act was interpreted by all who witnessed it as compassion between life forms. It was life serving life…because we are life.

Be well,

Leebythesea

I’ve been away for a while, it was about blood and brotherhood. See it here: https://wherethesundontshine.net/2016/06/22/blood-and-brotherhood/