Goin' South

     Goin’ South

It is getting cold out here. That rain yesterday didn’t help and luckily my nest was nice and warm. But, I can feel it; it is time to go south. 

The voyage will begin tomorrow.  It is a long trek full of perils and danger. There are guns and wires and planes. There is also the chance of getting caught in bad weather. There are hurricanes and they are the worse. You can tell when one is coming because the humans go crazy.

Right now, I am resting. It is fun to look out over the open field that has been home since last spring. There was a lot to eat and it was quiet and safe. Hopefully, I will be able to claim it again next year.

I am a gypsy. I will go south and find some abandoned nest or tree. There is always a place to settle in.  

I see the young boy coming with his gun. He cannot see me hiding in the tree. Soon the leaves will be gone. If they were gone right now he could see me and shoot at me. 

He is irresponsible. The boy should not have a gun.  If he shoots me, what is he going to do with my dead body?  He will not eat me because there is not a lot of meat on my bones. So what is the point?

The sun is setting. Now he is shooting at anything and everything. I guess he has nothing better to do with his time. He is a rather dull, unimaginative boy.

I am not going to wait until tomorrow morning. I am going to leave now. The boy’s father is coming and his gun is much bigger and stronger and deadlier.

Look out, the South, here I come.  

There is gunshot, but they have missed me. I now know from where the boy gets his bad habits.

I will rest when it grows dark. I have a couple of hours and will cross the big water.  

There are humans on the water on their floating devices. They seem to be happy.  

The buildings are tall and I see other birds hanging around. I guess there is food out there or they would go somewhere else. There is water around. But there are a lot of humans all together and that is not good. It is better when there are fewer humans around.

It is growing dark and I will settle down for the night. I do not like flying in the darkness because it is too dangerous.  

There is a large tree that looks safe. I can rest comfortably on a tree branch.  

The night is calm. The wind is soft and the stars are bright. 

It is morning now. The sun is shining and it is going to be a good day for flying south.  First, I would like some food and see some bread all over the cement. I hope it is not a trick.

I am full for the trip and I have had a drink of water.  It is time to continue the journey.

It is fun to fly. The humans use the large metal objects in order to float in the sky. Those giant metal things smell bad and are very noisy.  A lot of my friends have fallen to the metal birds. They have twirling things that kill instantly.

The landscape is all the same. There are large buildings and the tools humans ride the road on are all over. Sometimes the objects collide and the humans scream at each other.

Overhead right now, there are like hundreds of these metal objects all lined up. Some people are screaming and the humans appear frustrated and angry. I guess if they can’t move forward it is difficult to handle.

If only they could fly like me.

The sun feels good. In the South, the sun is hotter and feels great. I have never stayed back there for what they call winter. I hear it is cold and this white stuff falls and covers the ground so no food can be found.

I will stick with going south.

I think I am in a different area but it is hard to tell. There are more buildings and cars and humans moving about. They look like ants. I don’t particularly like ants they don’t taste very good. Worms are a much better dietary source.

I don’t understand how the humans can live in such concrete jungles. It seems like a sad place to habituate. There is a lot of stuff that goes on that I don’t understand. They are all crowded and everyone seems to be in a hurry. They bump into each other and fight and scream. It is madness.

The humans seem angry at each other. They have guns and instead of shooting at birds or other animals they shoot at each other. Why do they do that? Sometimes you see there or four humans or more fighting only one lone person. I am tempted to go over there and peck their eyes out, but it is best not to get involved.

I am just a simple bird living my life and I don’t really need to understand what the humans are doing. That is a good thing, because I am not sure that I ever would because it seems so complicated.

I have put a lot of miles behind me now. There is one giant collection of buildings after the other. Then there is a stretch of rural areas. I am hoping to avoid the roads that have lots of cars going too fast.  

Soon, I will stop somewhere to eat. Sometimes, I see people eating in places where other humans come out and give them food. That would be nice for us birds if we had such a thing.

Sometimes, it is very lucky to find a plastic container with seed on it. Once, I stopped for this and this woman came at me with a strange instrument. She kept pressing a button and I kept hearing something clicking, but didn’t know what it was so I didn’t stop eating. I was so hungry.

I see a park down below and I am going to check it out.  

The park has lots of food all over the place. It is not luxurious food, but then I don’t care because it is still good. There is a human throwing bread to the birds. I will join them. Free bread is wonderful.

The human seems to enjoy throwing bread for all of us. It is delicious food. Sometimes, it is mouldy and tastes stale.

That was a good feast. The human is very kind. It was like eating in one of those places that the people go to.

But, it is back on the road. This is a two or three day journey.

I am on day one.  The first night didn’t count because that stupid human was going to shoot at me.

The sun is shining and that is good. The wind is not strong and is slightly at my back.   

I have been flying for a long time now. The wind is starting to pick up. I have better find some shelter.  Hopefully, it is not a huge storm.

I am hiding in this tree. It is not too tall, but tall enough. It is in someone’s backyard.

The storm is huge. It is very windy and the branch I am sitting on is bobbing up and down. The rain is driving hard and fast.

The best thing about a storm is after there will be lots of delicious worms.

The storm is over. The sun is out and there is an arc of something that has a lot of colours. It is very nice. After a few worms, I am going to leave.

As I was eating the worms, a cat came around. They are very quick to pounce and kill. The feline never had a chance because I saw it right away. So, I left it wishing it had moved faster.

I have made hundreds of miles with a full belly. But it is getting to be night and time to stop. I see a tree ahead with an abandoned nest. It is all comfy and well built. I will rest here for the night.

It is morning now. It is not much further. So far it has been a good trip.

The sky is blue and the wind is calm. This is great.

It has been a couple of hours and I recognize the area that is my winter place. I can see the forest where I usually live for the next few months. There is my favourite tree and it looks empty.

I am home.