Well, after the loss of our chick this morning, I was feeling pretty sad. Seems as if the birds know, and wanted to cheer me up. A few hours later, I heard a chorus of chirping and went upstairs, afraid maybe something else bad had happened. Instead, I found a whole line of baby swallows from someone else’s broods (you can tell the babies by their shorter tail feathers and the white/yellow lines that outline their mouths), all lined up on our balcony, with several more perched above the door and flying around them.
Note that you can click on the photos to enlarge them.
They appear to be newly fledged (you can tell that by the way they fly, "helicoptering" instead of gliding in smoothly like the adults do. I don’t know where they came from, but they seem to like our balcony. They’ve been there all afternoon. And it made me happy to see that so many babies had survived and fledged.
At one point, I counted 14 of them in all. I’m hoping that when their mom and dad birds kick them out of the nest (which usually happens after about a week), they’ll come here to roost at night.
And as if that weren’t enough to lift my spirits, the hibiscus are blooming again.
What started out as a bad day ended up better than I expected, and I’m reminded once again of how truly blessed I am to live here, among all these beautiful little creatures. Sharing their tragedies is a small price to pay for the opportunity to share their triumphs. Watching the new flyers getting the hang of this airborne thing is better entertainment than any movie, concert or TV program could ever be.
deb@shinder.net www.debshinder.com
"Never enter a battle of wits unarmed."
