Friday, March 14, 2014

The Gracks Are Back In Town

Not to get all pseudo-biblical but, this must be what “falling from the sky like a plague of locusts” is like.

      
While Mars and I sat safe and warm in our front yard facing family room, sipping our morning coffee with Norah, Gayle and Charlie softly in the background, the airspace outside our windows suddenly filled with hundreds – maybe even thousands – of rapidly descending shiny black, blue-green sheened birds.  Okay, maybe I slightly overstated the size of the invasion – but there is no question as to what was happening. The “Gracks” are back in town.

       
They spread out across our front lawn until that mostly snow covered surface was as dark and fluttery as our sky had been just moments before.  Then something, probably a passing car, startled them into a joint flight fright and the horizon was once again painted black.  They pretty much all settled in our, or our neighbor’s, oak trees.  Within minutes, presumably after they sensed that the danger had passed, they re-filled our sightline with another ebony avalanche.

       
Then another vehicle drove by and the rapid retreat, followed by the rapid return, followed by…  You get the idea.

       
Eventually they all left our immediate area.  And when we looked out, every kernel of corn that I had complained about in my previous posting was gone – picked clean and pristine.  The grackles have not been back since.

       
It’s good to know that someone (or some thing) reads my blog.

No comments: