The Daily Dog: A Beach Full Of Birds November 8, 2006

Woof to you,

Yesterday everyone in my house was up early in the morning. The sun was rising and making the sky look like a beautiful painting. I took a walk on the beach which is usually quiet with nobody out there other than the occasional jogger.

The ocean was the smoothest I’ve ever seen it. No waves at all. Just a ripple or two and on the farthest end beach, I saw something I have never seen before-a gazillion birds sitting in one spot in the water. They were all clumped together, making the place where they gathered look like very large dark circles in water…like a big shadow of birdie feathers to feathers, coloring the ocean.

Bunches of birds stayed sitting together way out on the sea. Some of them sat in groups closer to shore and others were flying in the air all over the beach too.

There was a man on the shoreline. He was all alone, fishing. He was standing in the water up to his knees, casting his line out into the waterto see if he could get some fish to nibble.

Then the birds began to lift off the water of the next beach over and flew right to land in front of and all around him. He couldn’t throw his line out anymore for fear of hitting the birds. They made the air look all fluttery with the many wings beating the air around him and when they settled with many kerplops into the water, there was no way he could continue to fish.

They caw cawed and shreiked eek eek and dove up and down in the air before landing to sit in their big huddle on the water.

There were so many birds I couldn’t count!

The fisherman started to walk out of the water, probably figuring, “Well that’s it for me for the day,” and then the whole bunch started flying up and over to the next beach. It was like someone was invisible leader and passed the word along until all of them flew over on to the next beach and the next.

And way, waaay out in the ocean, I could see that there were other big dark puddles of winged critters collected in their clots on the surface of the sea.

And beyond that there was so much foggy mist that the tankers and steamships looked like they were suspended beyond the birds in magic, airy sky.

They call that an optical illusion.

It was like a new kingdom appeared and disappeared in a now-you-see-it / now- you-don’t sort of fashion.

The fisherman stopped in his sandy tracks and just looked at all of the squawking feathered friends and their funny business and when they went to ther next beach, he went back into the water to kerplunk his line once again in for a try for some fishy food.

Me? I was the quietest, snoopy dog you ever saw. That was a lot of birds in one place and their wings were very wide and dark and white feathery and they had pointy beaks too.
What a fun, unusual way to start the day.

I was happy inside all day long.

Have you ever seen lots of birds in one place like that?

Woofs from,

Bailley