Blog,  Slice of Life

Flocks & Murmurations

Hey! Just popping in to tell a cool little anecdote.

I have a bird feeder in my yard, and a bird book and binoculars nearby so I can try to identify the birds I see. The cats love to watch them (I love how Zwartbles Ireland calls it “cat TV“), and Moss sometimes chatters at them when he gets particularly excited. It’s so cute, but I can never get it on film.

So yesterday morning, he’s poking his head through the blinds, and I go to open them for him–and stare outside in shock.

About 20 red-winged blackbirds were chowing at my feeder, like tourists at a hotel breakfast buffet! They flew away before I could get a picture, but then some came back, so I rushed to grab evidence.

Red-wing blackbirds at our feeder
Red-wing blackbirds at our feeder

This was cool by itself, but it’s even cooler in lieu of what happened around this time last year.

Last January I was on the couch, working or reading or whatever, and suddenly I hear a whoosh of chirping fly over my roof! I rushed to the window, but I didn’t see them. Thankfully I wasn’t the only one who heard them, the neighborhood association posted this, with videos!

I’ve always loved watching flocks of birds fly cross the sky. They’ve become a meaningful symbol of encouragement in my life, so much so that they’ve worked their way in my fantasy series! I’ve never seen a starling murmuration, but it’s on my bucket list!

Discerning readers of my site know that my first novel is called “The Sign of the Redwing” (unless an agent thinks I should change it and has good reason :P). In my book, a redwing is a predominantly red bird, and doesn’t look like a red-winged blackbird, but to have redwings flying over my house in giant, murmuring flocks…that’s super special and encouraging to this writer ^_^

I’d been wanting to post about the flock of red-wing blackbirds since last year, but the moment passed and I wasn’t sure what I wanted to say. But when they showed up in my yard yesterday, I knew I had a story, and decided to strike while the iron was hot!

So I guess this means the red-winged blackbirds will be returning en mass to our yard again early next year? I need to do some research!

But not now. I just had a 3-week office work stint, but I’m back on the editing wagon now and have a lot of catching up to do, so time to buckle down! *disappears once again*

 

 

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