Little gleaners around us

I've talked a lot about birds (and other critters) just trying to make a living like all of us.  We see behaviors that might disgust or repel, such as vultures and crows eating road kill, and it's easy just to be repelled and not think any further.  Consider that they're the world's clean-up crew, which is a pretty valuable niche, job-wise. 
My favorite clean-up bird can be found in every busy parking lot.  They're at Fred Meyer, Costco, Safeway.  They're small, dapper, and very adept at dodging shopping carts and cars.  Brewer's blackbird males are black with a lovely lemon-colored eye, the females are graphite gray.  They have a characteristic walk, kind of a little strut, as they zip between cars, over the bark-dusted barriers, looking for any morsel that has found its way to the ground.   They keep a weather eye on humans, especially the skate-boarding kind. 
To me, they show endurance and optimism.  Every time I see them, which is often, I have to smile.   

Brewer's Blackbirds


"Everything for the birds around your yard" 
reads the strip mall sign.  Saturday rain puddles
glint on black tarmac.


A gang of blackbirds, the local contingent,
patrols between cars, under
shrubs, near the gutter.
Like perfect black wind-ups
they step smartly around
shopping carts, loose dogs, skateboards.
Dove gray females and inky
lemon-eyed males 
goose step for the smallest morsel.


Behind the store window, 
I browse
past ornate fountains, high-priced feeders
toward squat buckets filled with seed in jewel colors:
oynx sunflower, golden corn,
ruddy ground peanuts - just the ticket
on a wet Oregon day.


Never a thief, I
pocket a handful of gold
stroll out the door,
and like chicks they come running
when they see the grain fly.
They race to each bit not stopping to savor
for who knows when luck will favor them again?
They peck and discuss their good fortune
and fill the morning
with shining black optimism.  

ss