Maybe some people never notice birds unless they are noisy. I look for them to remind me of people and places I love. There are rarely gulls here but I have seen one. They remind me of the shore and a hero of mine.
The bird I was surprised to find is not rare at all. It is the pigeon that I found fascinating when I got here. From the top of our office building, I can watch them swing their circles around in the sky. I can almost feel their momentum as they swoop in unison. Their collective dance is truly beautiful, even if you do not love them. They seem to repeat their history in the sky as they replicate a divine legacy of movement.
For some reason, I thought pigeons were exclusive to cities--big cities. But it turns out pigeons are where people are, usually-- even the small places. I carried some pigeon feathers here with me, which I picked up in Baltimore, despite the parental warnings squawking in my head. You know, the ones about lice and disease. For the record I have never gotten sick from a bird feather--not crow, or jay, or catbird or-- you get the point. Maybe I am just lucky but if that's true I'm very lucky.
Some call pigeons the rat of the sky, which is silly and mean even if the comparison makes some sense. Pigeons always remind me of my friend Ryan Harvey not at all because he resembles one or because he spins in circles. He doesn't.
It's just that I can remember him vehemently defending the honor of pigeons and talking about how talented they are. Pigeons have complex homing instincts, their hearing is incredible and they mate for life. Their noises are pretty relaxing and the dove is actually part of the pigeon family. Pigeon of Peace who knew? Scientists did I guess. Ryan Harvey taught me some of these interesting facts but the rest I looked up after watching pigeons swing through the sky in Williamson.
There are other birds here for sure. My neighborhood has so many blue jays that they make me miss the robins at home. It's not that I like robins better exactly, it's just that there are about as many blue jays here as there are robins at home. They're just walking around the lawn like they aren't unusual and I guess here they aren't.
In the evening at a certain time all these little brown birds roost together in the trees around my neighborhood and they start to make this noise that sounds ugly at first. I think they might be grackles but the noise they make sounds like a gargling croaky crackling kind of noise until they all get to singing together. And then I swear their song sounds like rushing water. They literally sing a stream of birdsong every night right before the sun goes down. In their voices you can hear water rushing maybe hitting rocks--excited water. Beautiful. I wonder if the birds will go away as it gets cold. I guess I will find out soon enough.
At home during this time of year there are storms of crows in the sky. Here they travel in twos and threes. Sometimes they are alone and sometimes they are cawing. I caw back to them when no one is watching but the sky. They are listening of that I am certain.
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