The Birds

I have a shovelful of photos for you today. Take the meaning of that any way you like. The thing is that I saw this tree full of birds unexpectedly recently. This is something that I've just recently discovered.

I happened to be on my way to my truck when these birds flew noisily  over to this tree. The tree isn't really that close to where I was parked, but it was close enough for my zoom lense to almost discover their identity. I remember trying to get shots of birds in that tree without it, and it just didn't quite work.

Let's get just a little bit closer here. We can see that these birds are dark, probably mostly black. I heard them, but I'm unfamiliar with the specific sounds of birds so far. We still don't have much of a clue as to what they are, but we're getting closer.

Now we're as close as my camera can go, even with the zoom as far as it will go, which is probably not as far as most newer cameras can easily go. The important thing is that we now know that these birds are almost completely black. They also appear to be about the same size as American robins, or just slightly bigger.

Robins have a rusty colored red breast, so this is not them. The only problem is that robins were the only kind of bird I've seen around here in winter, until now. Yes, I've seen another type of bird, and they gather in big flocks, just like robins.

Even though they're difficult to see, I'm going to make an educated guess that these birds are in fact European starlings. Take a look here for a better picture of a starling. They are black with white speckles all over them. Examining these pictures closely, I think I can almost see those speckles.

Just as I was in the middle of taking my pictures, these birds all flew away. Very far away! I was actually prepared for this event, and I waited patiently so I could get these last two shots. This time is was definitely not an accident, but it was happy.

There they go! They're off! That's a cheap paraphrase from a ghost character in a short story I once read. The people that lived in a house that the ghost was haunting finally decided to pack up and leave. As they started moving in their full truck, they heard the voice of the ghost say, "Here we go, we're off!"

Just as they weren't rid of that ghost, I wasn't rid of starlings. I saw a large flock of these birds on the ground and in the trees just outside of my living room window a few days ago. My camera was nowhere near, but the event confirmed in a loose way that my guess about these birds was correct.

There I go, I'm off!
(Take that any way you want too.)