The Bluebirds Lay Over In Marietta

The other day I was out raking and burning in the backyard and walked over to the fence to speak to Jim who was also working in his back yard.

While gossiping about Bob and his family two or three Bluebirds came close. Jim identified as Bluebirds and some more materialized, then some more. Before too many minutes we were surrounded by a dozen or more Bluebirds
Of course my first thought was Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” movie.

Jim said they were migrating south.

That got me thinking. You think of birds migrating south as Canadian Geese flying gracefully in their triangle formation. But other birds fly south for the winter also. Hummingbirds fly south for the winter and Bluebirds, and many other kinds.

I suppose for the smaller birds there is no advantage of flying high.. why not fly low so you can stop to eat and rest more often.

I remember a few years ago watching the movie “Winged Migration” and liked it so much we taped it.

In the movie it was said that the head bird has been that route before. Once, it was a trainee taking mental notes of landmarks, longitude, and all that kind of navigational stuff.

What if a certain little Bluebird of the group we saw the other day was the one assigned to take notes because the old Bluebird leader was going to stay in Florida this time and retire?

When he got to our neighborhood the little Bluebird carefully noted the landmark by noting: “Two old farts leaning on rakes talking.”

And then, next year he will be the leader and when he gets to our area we are not there – we either have doctor’s appointments or that particular day falls on a Wednesday and it is senior discount day at the grocery stores?

The little Bluebird will not let on he is lost and lose the confidence of the group following him…. He will bravely fly on (and off course). Which in turn, they will land and set up winter quarters in an unknown territory…. The certain plants that was depending on the birds to move their seeds around (remember “the birds and the bees”?) will not have that service and they all dry up and die which was a key part of the ecological system, which will cause the Domino Effect, and all life on Earth cease to exist.

It all happened because Jim and I was at the wrong place at the wrong time, which is a shame because people can’t blame the Democrats or the Republicans.