Just as we both were thinking we would never find another person to love, we were brought under the spell of a Pileated Woodpecker. It was the year 2000, when we were both on our way to separate meetings at Delaware County Community College, in Media, PA. If you have ever been there, you know that coming from multiple parking lots, there are two long sets of steps leading down to the main entrance.
After a flirtatious hello on those steps, at the bottom we agreed that this was an unusual way to spend a Friday night—Dale, going to an Audubon Society meeting and Jim going to the computer lab. We said goodbye and wondered what might become of the encounter.
Dale was lingering in the hallway outside the Audubon meeting, when up comes Jim, smiling and asking to join the meeting. It turned out the computer lab was closed. After getting important facts out of the way—we‘re passionate about the same issues! We are both activists! We both care about the environment!—we entered the room for a slide show.
Dale was feeling pretty optimistic up to that point. Then Jim shared a story that he had had a personal, close encounter with a Pileated Woodpecker on a trail in Philadelphia’s Wissahickon Park. The bird was literally at his feet pecking for food. Dale found that a little hard to believe and started to wonder about Jim’s truthfulness, but …. The slide show of common local birds began. Midway through the presentation, Jim excitedly pointed to a slide of a Pileated Woodpecker, confirming that, after all, he knew what he was talking about!
We got married in 2004 and are still enjoying sightings of the totem bird that brought us together. Whenever we are out in Nature, we are looking for that wonderful bird that ignited our love for each other.
Jim and Dale Harris, volunteers with the Lansdowne Environmental Advisory Council. Dale is a former member of that EAC and is currently a docent for the Tyler Arboretum, as well as in charge of the nature store at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge. Jim also volunteers with the Lansdowne Shade Tree Commission and organizes drum circles.
Photo credits:
Pileated Woodpecker, by Michele Keane-Moore, used with permission
Jim and Dale Harris, by anonymous