The Birds

A short note about birds.

I love birds. I think in a past life I was a cockatoo in a cage or something. Yesterday as I was sitting at my dining room table, I noticed a hummingbird hovering near the window. It flew away, but reappeared in a matter of minutes. Then I realized that I had taken down my hummingbird feeder to clean it last week and forgot to replace it. Suddenly, I was filled with guilt; the poor, hungry hummingbird was outside saying "feed me!" Without haste, I filled the feeder with my special red solution and brought it outside. Whew!

The bird world must have caught wind of my faux pas. My yard was filled this morning with a swarm of tiny little birds in search of post-rain worms. Surely, the hummingbird must have sent them! Luckily, I caught sight of a pretty little blue bird in the mix. I love blue birds, as they are supposed to bring good luck. I don't know where I heard that bit of superstition; perhaps my imagination made it up. But what is wrong with making up folklore as we go along?

To complete my little bird blurb, I would like to tell you about a near miss this morning. I was out on the San Fernando trail, my MP3 player in hand, when I noticed a huge flock of birds in the trees above. No, I was not in a Hitchcock movie (anyone remember "The Birds" with Tippi Hedren?). I turned off my Madonna music and heard such a clamour I almost thought I was hallucinating. No such luck. The birds were real and were making the loudest avian racket I've ever heard. Kind of like an idiot, I just stood there listening to this deafening bird mayhem.

I am sure you can guess what happened. A bird poop missed me by that much. We are talking a millimeter. I even took my jacket off (the pea green one I wrote about the other day) thinking I had been hit. Fortunately, I was spared. I'm not sure whether I was lucky or simply stupid. My guard was down, and I let myself become a target. All in all, though, being privy to nature's symphony was worth the risk.