SABBATH SONGBIRDS (2025-18)

A group of chicks is called a “chattering.”

A group of eagles is called a “convocation.”

A group of hummingbirds is called a “charm.”

And a gathering of owls is a “parliament.”

A collection of penguins is known as a “huddle.”

Get a group of jays together and you’ll have a “band” or a “party.” (I think it would be fun to get everybody I know named Jay and give them matching t shirts and invite them to a Jay party. Or create a rock band called “The Jays”. But I digress….

A “watch” is a gathering of nightingales. 

Those noisy magpies looking like nuns are conveniently known as “conventicles.”

Then there are those black birds familiar in horror movies. A group of ravens is called an “unkindness.” It can also be called a “conspiracy” or “treachery.”

A group of crows, often larger than typical groups of ravens, is called a ”murder.” Yikes!

And then, in contrast, a group of larks is an “exaltation” or an “ascension.”

Finally, a collection of all types of birds is called a congregation.

When I sit in church each Sunday, and the organ starts to play as we are all sitting there lined up along the branches of our wooden pews, I yearn to hear the woods awaken in all her glory. Instead, the organ blows through us and we birds kind of whimper or remain sadly silent. Maybe everyone wants to be a rose-breasted grosbeak, or even the familiar robin or conversational house finch, or have the bubbly whistle of the meadowlark . I wonder if people are making an unspoken declaration that if God didn’t make me a sparrow I will not sing. 

Whatever the reason, I suspect the maker of all humans and birds would be more pleased if all the birdies in the woods would open their beaks and rejoice at the rising Son. It’s the variety that makes the journey through this earthbound space so glorious.