I am like a scrawny owl in the desert. I have become a screech owl living among the sun-scorched desert bones. – Psalm 102:6 (First Nations Version of the Psalms and Proverbs)

The composer of Psalm 102 is in dire straits. Whether due to illness or enemies, the psalmist’s “bones burn like a furnace [and] cleave to my flesh. I eat ashes like bread,” the besieged singer continues, “and mingle tears with my drink … I wither away like an evening shadow.”

The author describes himself like a little desert owl, screeching among the dry bones.

Because of their shriek and mournful “hoo-hoo,” owls appear throughout Hebrew scripture as a metaphor for human lamentation. Since owls inhabited desolate places and deserted ruins, their inclusion in Psalm 102 underscored the psalmist’s desolation and abandonment in the waste places of the Babylonian exile.

Were the psalmist writing in our own time, both his and the owl’s mournful cry would be amplified, since human and avian life are under siege. With climate change, war, habitat destruction, and other environmental degradation, birds once abundant in the Ancient Near East (including fish-owls) are extinct. A third more are endangered. In the Southwest U.S., little desert owls including pygmy and elf owls (the world’s smallest owls) are declining rapidly due to development and pesticides.

Birds are prime indicators of biodiversity and ecosystem health. If they’re withering like an evening shadow, then we humans aren’t far behind. We might be wise to hear the lament of these little desert owls, and change our ways.

Prayer
Open us, Creator, to the wisdom of your winged ones and all the rest of your creation, for their sake and ours. Amen.

About the Author
Talitha Arnold is Senior Minister of the United Church of Santa Fe (UCC), Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is the author of Mark Parts 1 and 2 of the Listen Up! Bible Study series and Worship for Vital Congregations.