birds – Ancient Skies

Night Song Lingered

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Night Song lingered gently as sunlight broke open the sky,

ducks stirred

in their feathers,

and sparrows began their day

painting the canvas

of the blue sky.

White Cranes

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As white cranes with black legs, slowly meander through the reeds

sifting food, a turtle is brave enough to break the surface

of the pond, and a spring rain falls causing

a young couple to run laughing, to hide

under the cover of large green leaves.

And the white cranes,

stand in the rain pouring.

By the Stream

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By the stream, a catbird calls for its mate either angry or in love, in the brush of leaves

and branches. And the blue jay bullies the sparrows, taking over their nest, while in the sky

a hawk loses the fight with a group blackbirds. Perhaps the hummingbird knows

best, by being too quick for any to really see him, and the sweetness

of flowers has always been less hostile

than stealing eggs.

Peace and blessings to everyone.

“When we love people, we give them hope.”

Did you know that owls do not make any noise when they flap their wings? I recently saw some research on this, where scientists measured the sound of different birds flying. With sensitive microphones in a lab, they could measure the noise of a pigeon flying, and that of a hawk as well. But when the barn owl flew, there was almost no sound measurable. It was not heard at all, by human ears. So this means that when the owl flies and hunts, its prey cannot hear it.

Owls also glide a lot. This is due to their very large wings. In the short video below, you will see that each wing has a very large width. This is not to be confused with wingspan, which is from wingtip to wingtip. The owl’s large wings, also means it needs to flap its wings fewer times, to cover airspace. Its flight is slow and graceful, and silent!

One final point is that owls are very active at night, and of course have excellent vision. Unlike eagles and hawks, they mostly fly low to the ground. They have been known to hunt during the day, so don’t be alarmed if you see one flying. Their “hooting” can sound scary but they are mostly just talking to each other. I’ve had an owl fly by my head a few times, when I was in the deep woods, but I believe it was trying to protect its nest. I was not attacked.

Owls are fascinating animals!

Blessings to everyone and PEACE!

video from youtube

images from google

The Osprey

Winged power folded, patient,

waiting, for the next hunt,

then strength launching, flying higher,

circling, surveying the water,

soaring, measuring, calculating,

estimating, distance from the target

when the time is right –

the dive!

A missile propelling downward,

one hundred miles an hour,

extending talons, piercing the water,

grasping the target, and pulling up,

all at the same time.

The majesty of the hunter,

created to be – the fish hawk.

Osprey Side View

Birds of Prey

I once saw a Bald Eagle swoop down about 20 feet ahead of my car, coming in from the right, capturing whatever was in the road, and flying up towards the left. It was over in a matter of seconds. Majestic is one word I thought of to describe this bird. He/she was also huge. I had no idea how big they were.

The Peregrine Falcon is the fastest bird on the planet. The American Kestrel is the smallest bird of prey in our country. If I remember right they are smaller than the blue jay. All of them can see for miles, and whether they look fierce or not so much, they are all beautiful. Here are a few examples.

The Seagulls

The Seagulls

I’m convinced that seagulls are passive aggressive,

and some are even worse.

Waiting, watching your every move

hoping, to launch an attack,

for any and all morsels of food.

Reaching into your bags can cause havoc,

as they inch closer, squawking to tell

their buddies, twenty more then

watching and waiting.

We were sitting in our beach chairs,

when my wife said, “Watch this!”

I shouted, “No don’t!” too late.

She threw them a piece of her sandwich,

chaos erupted, 143 seagulls descended

within seconds,

some dive bombed,

others pecked at each other,

all of them squawking, and cussing,

calling each other names.

Where did they all come from?

I dived on top of my wife to protect her,

swung around,

and pulled the umbrella out of the sand,

used it as a shield, to cover us.

It was awful.

Then I snorted, and woke myself up.

With one eye open I asked,

“Did you just feed the birds?”

She said, “No, don’t be silly”

as she continued reading her book.

I said, “Oh, thank God,”

“…too many Alfred Hitchcock movies….”

I did notice, after we got home though,

that the starlings have been staring at us.

Tag: birds