Friday, August 10, 2007

Days of birds and heavy weather

These past few days. Firstly on the top deck of a bus sweltering along, looking at all and nothing. I noticed over the back gardens of houses off the Old Bawn Road a flock of starlings sweeping upwards. One would arc lower using the downward fall of its trajectory to gain speed then turning the angle of its wings slightly, pulling up, up into the sky, high, higher than I had ever seen them flying before. Something about their dancing skywards puzzled me. Then I realised they were hunting. Catching flying ants rising in the heat.

The birds' wings, stretched wide out to lift them on the hot air the princess ants and male, winged ants were soaring through in invisible clouds, would suddenly twist and fold in an anxious stall as the bird almost stopped to snap up another pair of mating insects.

Further down the road, great flocks of seabirds spiralled upwards over the parklands, following the swarms. White wings upraised they swooped gracefully and plucked at the air.

No-one among the footballers or walkers or commuters stuck in traffic noticed them.

This evening, walking down the long concrete foothpath towards home I noticed scurrying platoons of ant attendants rushing frantically about, encouraging latecoming princesses in lacy wings to take off onto the dull breeze in the torid heat and run the gauntlet in the sky.

Far off towards the mountains a column of hundreds of pairs of white feathered wings blazed in the sunlight, a beautiful ballet of death and of life. The children, bored with summer holidays, didn't look up, but went about the business of who was playing with whom and who's pick it was.

Nothing ever happens in Firhouse, no doubt they'll say.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Willie, some people go around without noticing a thing. Very observant of you. A nice story *S*........... Joan

Angharod said...

Howya Willie...wondering if you'll visit the Viking ship Sea Stallion and get us a picture or two...

I might be late...I know the ship made Louth...so hoping...the video I watched at RTE said Tues it would dock in Dublin. Been busy, so the boat might have already GOT there...duhhh

Anonymous said...

Notnig to do with the post here but...........Willie, the clock on the front page is set wrong !! LOL

Anonymous said...

My daughter is going to Dublin this afternoon, on her way the next day to Galway for a wedding. She said she will go and see the Sea Stallion while in Dublin and take a few pics. Her and her Pal are doing some of the tourist bit while they can. Her pal has been in Dublin on quick visits but was in the pubs mostly and never saw much of Dublin itself. You know, Hen weekends etc *S*.
Joan.

Willie_W said...

That would be the invisible clock then? There is no clock on the front page of this blog, silly...

Willie_W said...

She'll not be in luckj unless she looks at the ship this evening. At 7.00 am tomorrow it gets moved to Collins Barracks -- out of the water on display until 2008. I got a brief glimpse of it moored by Customs House Quay this afternoon myself as we were speeding by on our way home from a day trip.

Angharod said...

In the RTE site there are photos and vids of the ship...one of the last ones is when they got to Scotland....I snagged the photo for my desktop...it's just lovely...better than what was in the Indy paper.