Birds

                                                           Owls  (November, 2010)

One night I got home from the movies at 10:30 and when I opened my car door I was greeted by an owl duet from the property next door.  One owl’s hoot was deeper and the response from a nearby tree was higher, so I imagined that the communication was between male and female talking about their young ones or their food supply.  I could tell they were at the tops of two nearby trees, and though I strained my arches to stand on tiptoe, I couldn’t see them.  But it was a rare treat to hear their symphony that night.

                                                          Birds on a Wire

My new neighborhood is filled with parrots who do fly-bys morning and evening talking continuously in an unknown dialect that sounds like a machine gun: “Eh-eh-eh eh-eh-eh.”  Also sounds a little like billy goats.  Wonder where they live?

Here they are this morning, about 10:30 a.m., taking a rest from flying through our low-lying fog, perched on telephone wires behind my home.

©  Elena E. Smith, 2011