For three days last week they came.
Dozens of them. At least 50-60
It was cold and windy and I was inside reading when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the birds flying. I realized I had actually seen them for awhile (maybe an hour?) before it really registered that something was odd. My first thought was that a storm was brewing.
But they were so quiet. Eerily silent.
They swooped and soared. Taking up the whole sky in their acrobatic dance.
Swallows.
Not the synchronized swarming they are known to do. This was the individual dance portion of their program. The whole back lot was their arena. For about 2 hours they played until, at a predetermined ingrained signal, one by one they silently soared into the sky and were gone.
On the fourth day, I made my tea and settled on the balcony to watch.
They didn't come.
Now, the show outside is all the dancing puff balls.
Some as large a pingpong ball, others barely perceptible, they float in the gentle air like bits of cloud that have broken free.
Hundreds of dozens of them.
Dozens of them. At least 50-60
It was cold and windy and I was inside reading when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the birds flying. I realized I had actually seen them for awhile (maybe an hour?) before it really registered that something was odd. My first thought was that a storm was brewing.
But they were so quiet. Eerily silent.
They swooped and soared. Taking up the whole sky in their acrobatic dance.
Swallows.
Not the synchronized swarming they are known to do. This was the individual dance portion of their program. The whole back lot was their arena. For about 2 hours they played until, at a predetermined ingrained signal, one by one they silently soared into the sky and were gone.
On the fourth day, I made my tea and settled on the balcony to watch.
They didn't come.
Now, the show outside is all the dancing puff balls.
Some as large a pingpong ball, others barely perceptible, they float in the gentle air like bits of cloud that have broken free.
Hundreds of dozens of them.
Equally as mesmerizing as the swallows.
Though not nearly as elegant.
Nor as mysterious.
Swallows are lovely. When we were on holiday in Greece one year they were nesting right above our heads, and we could watch the parents fly in and out and see the babies peering over the edge.
ReplyDeleteThose white floaty things look like some sort of seed maybe from a tree?
I hope the birds come again for you. I love to watch them too. we get Robins every evening once we water the flowers. I love your new header by the way. take care.
ReplyDeleteAhhh! To watch the dance of nature. Timing all it's own!! And that you were "seeing" it speaks volumes!
ReplyDeleteHugs
SueAnn
The swallows are back? Spring has truly arrived then... I haven't seen any here yet.
ReplyDeleteAwww...look at you all poetical and everything. Very nicely presented. Awesome use of alliteration.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like a very lovely show they put on for you. And it was free...a very good deal! I have no idea what the white floaty things are. I think it's too early for cottonwood.
ReplyDeleteThat was very poetic and lovely. The floaty things are from a cottonwood tree. They are messy as hell.
ReplyDeleteWell, thanks, guys.
ReplyDeleteAs for the alliteration, the only word I could not fit in was anything beginning with 'sun'. Unless I lied.
I thought of cottonwood. Really, I am embarrassingly ignorant when it comes to types of trees.
What a lovely bit of prose you wrote.
ReplyDeleteIn my childhood I saw a russian movie called "The Swallows are flying". I don't remember the plot, only the face of the beautiful female progonist and.. the flying of the swallows which has mesmerised me then, and still does.
ReplyDeleteWe have very small 'Welcome Swallows' here in Australia, and in New Zealand. They are small and brown, and like to nest in Car Parking buildings.
ReplyDeleteI always think of Pat Boone singing "When the Swallows Come Back to Capastrano', when I seem them. I know they are not the same birds...
You could have used "absence of sun" perhaps - very alliterative.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure where those bits of fluff come from, but they certainly make my allergies act up! :P
ReplyDeleteThat is just lovely!
ReplyDeleteCheers,
jj
We have thestarlings show up enmass everynow and then - they are not as graceful as the swallows. Very interesting post on the fire and restoration. AS for the street level of mywindows, it looks like the main entrance to building. I don't know what the upper floors of the"tower" will be.
ReplyDeleteThe swallows are often out when I walk at the lake - they are something to watch.
ReplyDelete