Monday, January 29, 2007

A Little Creepy

While walking Daisy Saturday we found ourselves surrounded by grackles. These birds are not my favorite members of the bird family. They are large, annoying and loud. They tend to take over an area, running off other birds. When I opened the door to go outside I heard the unmistakable call of the large black birds. I looked up to see them above me on the telephone and utility wires. In a scene reminiscent of Hitchcock's The Birds I felt a little like Tipi Hedren's character. The grackles seemed to look down menacingly from all directions. Every where I looked, there they were. They were perched on the wires above me. They sat in the pine trees along the side of the building. They lined the utility wires along the street next to the house. They even covered the ground of the fire station. Looking like a large black blanket, they moved moved around the ground daring Daisy to chase them. From the trees and wires they jeered at us as we walked around. We had no quarrel with them. The cacophony of noise they created with their calls to each other was overwhelming. As they stared down at us they seemed almost evil. Every step Daisy and I took was met by their comments. Would they swoop down and attack? Would Daisy be able to scare them off? Daisy did try to chase the ones covering the fire station ground. But they saw her coming and like a large black cloud, they rose enmass up and away from her attempts to catch them. It seemed like there were hundreds of them. It was a little creepy and I could not help but feel that these dark, glossy creatures had mayhem on their minds. Daisy and I took the easy way out. At least we hoped it would be easy. What if they followed us? If Daisy had her way, she surely would have tried to chase them. Somehow I don't think those birds were going to let that happen. They looked more like they thought Daisy would be a tasty meal. I had a mental picture of dozens of birds dive-bombing us. Sport to them, terror for us. Like I said, a little creepy. Quickly we turned and walked down the neighborhood street, leaving the grackles behind, Hoping they would not follow us we went down the friendlier street of the neighborhood. We came back and the birds were still there, waiting. I really have to stop reading all those horror stories!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am certain it wasn't supposed to, but this blog made me smile just a bit. Only last night on the phone a friend and I had a conversation about crows and the Hitchcock movie. He pointed out to me that the move used pidgeons, so there was no reason to fear the crows. Ha! A large group of anything menacing is to be feared. Those of us who have read horror novels know this!

cube said...

I'm glad you & Daisy survived the Day of the Grackles :-)

Anonymous said...

We have magpies, large, striking looking black and white birds, that move in and seem to take over neighborhoods. When we go into those areas they always give us a look like they are imagining dog/human entrees.

Birds are scary.