Bird Magic

Not a geezer basketball reference.

Several days ago, as I was walking, I saw up the road a flock, maybe forty-fifty strong, of ibis. Ibis. Not the same species that's been observing Pharaoh and Moses and a hundred million other Nile River dwellers for the past five thousand years, and were sometimes made into gods, but their close cousins. A foot or so tall, pure white (most of them--a few brownish) with long, thin, down-curved beaks. They had spread themselves across the road, some picking at the grass on one side, some at the lawn on the other, but most wandering the asphalt between the verges. I wondered, as I approached, just how close I could get before they spooked.

When I got within about twenty feet, I dropped my torrid four-mile-per-hour pace down to a shuffle. Imagine my surprise and delight as I touched the edge of the flock and they did not break but flowed around me until I was shin deep in a fluffy white feathery cloud. I slowed even further and tried not to laugh out loud. (I do confess to a quiet giggle or two.) They looked at me and moved as little as possible to let me pass continuing with their own business as if I were no more than a tree stump. When I got to the far side of my little cloud, they flowed in behind except for one who had something obviously inedible in his beak, a piece of paper of some sort. This one walked beside me up the street for several feet before deciding I was boring and turning away.

Then the houses reappeared, and the mailboxes and light poles and all the other stuff we make. But, for a couple of minutes there...

...and the rest of the day was perfect.

This morning a falcon swept down within ten feet of me, shoulder high before swooping back up and landing on a street light stanchion. I stopped and we nodded to each other. There were empty lots on both sides of the road and I think I might have interrupted his breakfast selection. It is the most important meal of the day, nevertheless, I am glad I'm the size I am. Looking up at those eyes I felt sympathy for the mouse.

Happy New Year!