COMMUNITY TEAM QUALITY RESPONSIBILITY

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We nurture a culture of purpose, excellence, and belonging.

We challenge ourselves to be exceptional in everything we do.

We steward our resources wisely.

Welcoming our di erences

As the weather turns ever warmer, many species of birds are gathering at the feeders outside my window. Vibrantly colored birds and birds with muted feather tones; tiny birds and larger ones; seed eaters, nectar drinkers, and jelly lovers; birds that come in pairs, birds that come in groups, and birds that come alone. Occasionally, all of the birds scatter as a dexterous squirrel shimmies up the shepherd’s hook for some easy pickings.

As I watched one day, a black bird with a brown head perched atop one of the feeders. I am not an avid birder by any stretch of the imagination, but occasionally I am capable of di erentiating between birds I have seen before and birds I haven’t. I didn’t remember seeing this creature at the feeders before, so I pointed it out to my spouse, who promptly looked it up on one of the apps on her phone. In about ve minutes, we learned more than we could have imagined about the brown-headed cowbird!

Julie Jennings Vice President of Spiritual Care and Wellbeing

Apparently, these birds are brood parasites and will lay their eggs in the nests of other species. Female cowbirds will watch other birds and note when a potential host lays its eggs. If the nest is left momentarily unattended, the cowbird will quickly enter the nest and lay her own egg in it, a process she can complete in about 20 seconds. Once her egg is in the nest, she leaves the egg and the nest, relying on the host species to incubate the egg and later feed the hatchling.

What ensues after the parasitic egg is in the nest is equally fascinating. The cowbird may continue to watch the nest. Some host species will detect the parasitic egg and either reject it by pushing the egg out of the nest or rebuild a nest oor over the egg. The cowbird has been observed to retaliate against rejecting hosts by attacking and destroying the remaining eggs.

Other hosts are unable to di erentiate between the parasitic egg and their own. Still others are believed to be able to recognize the parasitic egg but choose to accept it into the nest, tend to it, and later nurture the young bird until it leaves the nest.

There’s a lot to ponder about the behaviors of the cowbird. There are certainly lines we could draw between the cowbird behaviors and human behaviors, not the least of which is the tendency humans have to want things from other people and then become angry and vindictive when we don’t get what we want from them. But I am compelled to focus on the acceptance of the host species and the lines we can draw between their behavior and our own.

Each of us is probably familiar, on some level at least, with the experience of receiving an unexpected guest for a meal or a night or even longer. Perhaps your family or community has expanded to include a person with a dissimilar origin story or cultural identity. Maybe you have the experience of being the one who is di erent, waiting to see how you will be received.

Contrary to the cowbird (and the occasional squirrel, and perhaps an isolated encounter we might have had with a human version of either), most people those who are like us and the ones who are somehow di erent from us are not parasites looking to put one over on us or take something from us. No matter the color of our skin (or feathers, if you like); the size or shape or condition of our bodies; the diet we adhere to, our mating pattern, marital status, or living situation; no matter where we come from or how we got where we are now, all of us are hoping for a warm and welcoming place in which to thrive and an opportunity to share our little song with the world.

May each of us be inspired to welcome all who nd their way into our “nest” with radical hospitality, compassionate nurturing, and appreciative dignity and respect.

Prioritizing the HUMAN in human resources