Does Having Birds on my Brain Mean...

...that I am a birdbrain? Actually, once that would have been an insult, but now that neuroscientists are finding out that bird's brains, while small, are so incredibly complex the scientists can't even figure out how to map them yet, I am thinking it might just as well suggest a brain that prioritizes quality over quantity.

So from now on, if someone calls you a birdbrain - say 'Thank You'.

 

So, birds on my brain. I've got them. It had to do with my practicing with that fine new camera of mine and my fancy new 400mm lens, and suddenly seeing birds up close and personal and in a whole new light. It has to do with being there and seeing just a blur, but then having that blur slowed, frame by frame, to reveal the grace and beauty hidden in the flash of movement.

 

I am left thinking about their incredibly bright and piercing eyes. Their exquisite feathers that lay perfectly or ruffle sweetly, stick out stiffly or invite a touch to their soft as cotton downiness, feathers that look so fragile and yet imbue their master with the ability, the power to take to the air. Their poetry in flight and their vulnerability when grounded. I am thinking of the astounding intelligence of nature that produced thousands of distinctly different birds with just one thing in common. They can do something our bodies alone will never be able to do and that mankind has envied them since the beginning of time - they can fly. And I think they know it. That we envy them, I mean.

So while at the beach, (in between photographing pelicans), I photographed every other damn bird I could find. They don't tend to stay still much, but I got a few. Kind of.  Allow me to introduce:

Darron the Heron. I call all herons Darron, unless I call them Aaron. That is my prerogative as a bird brain. Lately, I have been meeting lots and lots of Darrons and Aarons, I am happy to say, because they are really very handsome specimens, and I enjoy trying to catch them at their best. Darron was quite the poser.

Remember Jonathan Livingston Seagull? Good book, though my personal Richard Bach favorite was and always will be, Illusions. But I thought this fine fellow could make a splendid Jonathan. He looks so pensive and thoughtful and all...and I think he's a seagull. Isn't he?

Then there's Busy Lizzy. I call her that - though for all I know it's a he -  because I don't know the bird, but it sure was busy, and catching her at a standstill was near impossible as she ran up and down, up and down the beach on her skinny little legs. Till she had an itch. God Bless that itch.

Now this one I call 'The Alarm' - because it was very alarmed at my approach and made sure we all knew it.

I was kind of sad to leave the beach and all my newfound friends. I guess they knew and the jungledrums went out, because when I got home, look what I found in my own back yard ! A Darron, Aaron extravaganza! With a few egrets thrown in for good measure...

 

So there you go. Hope you enjoyed the show. Go forth, be happy, and remember - being a birdbrain ain't all bad....