Outdoors -- blackbirds

Monday, it was the blackbirds.
Only a few days after the starlings left, the blackbirds took their place for less than half an hour.
I heard them calling to each other,
saw them collecting in the trees.
I went out to convince myself it wasn't crows.
Crows will mob a small tree and break it down.
These birds sailed spread-winged into the branches of the big elm and oak to perch.
Crows mostly have to flap every stroke to get their big bodies along.
These birds maneuvered neatly, steering with their wedges of tail feathers.
Crows mostly fly a straight line, not trusting to their tails for maneuverability.
These birds came to the ground and I could judge their sizes.
Crows don't like to fly low over my backyard because I go out and clap my hands so that my palms pop.
The sound is just like a gun going off and the crows have been pretty well trained to stay away.
So that they don't eat our baby goldfinches, cardinals, catbirds, mockingbirds, blue jays.
Which they have a habit of doing.
Anyway, after I was sure it was blackbirds, I went in.
It was chilly.
I turned off my ceiling fan, which I run almost constantly in summer.
It's autumn for sure.


© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights Reserved