My Birds Are Gone

Yesterday after work, I went out to the balcony watch the birds for a few minutes while my tea water boiled. I stood for a few minutes and there were none. This wasn't so surprising, since there are often none and then suddenly there are hundreds swarming all over the sky, riding the currents, swooping and gliding.

Finally, I realized that there really were no birds. I've watched them in several kinds of weather, so I can't imagine that yesterday was so special that they decided not to fly.

My thinking is that they've moved on. I think that they were in our area for a while during a migration and now they've moved on to...where would they go to? South? It's almost spring here. (That's a prayer as much as it's a statement.)

I must stay that I'm quite disappointed. I felt like I'd discovered a wonderful thing. It was something that no one else was talking about. Even when I talked about it, expecting people to say, "Yeah! It's amazing how many there are how beautiful it is to watch them fly like that," no one said anything but, "Birds, huh?"

So now they're gone and all I have is the lone pigeon here and there. I wonder if it's an annual thing. I wonder if it has something to do with global warming. It seems to me that all these mom and dad birds would love to settle in Amsterdam and raise little baby birds. Maybe they're headed North. I wish I could have communicated that spring really will be here soon and we have lovely summers.

The bird thing reminds me of when Fred and I took one of our first trips, to Portugal, I think. There were swallows everywhere with nests made out of mud under the eaves of buildings. They were fun to watch, but they were really in the business of housekeeping, feeding babies and eating. They didn't have time, or desire, to fly around in huge clouds and entertain themselves. Plus they screeched quite a bit, which I found a little annoying.

Bye Bye Birdy.