Surfing Birds

If you’ve been following my blogs, you’ll know my feelings on Induction cooktops - love mine. Anyways, I was at a family brunch get-together the other day and the oven had a Ceran top. They had cooked pancakes in a fry pan for a half hour or so. I walked past it an hour later and the heat was still radiating off of the burners. And it’s only a 32 plus day outside. No air conditioning inside. One more reason to re-think your next stovetop purchase.

Onto my topic for this week. Surfing birds. Have you seen them? Watched them? If you haven’t then it’s time to look up and see what’s going on up above you. About 2 years ago I was sitting outside with my son when all of a sudden we had a “murder” of crows start gathering on the top of the tallest pine trees in our yard. And in case you didn’t know this a group of crows is called a murder, not a flock of crows. OMG. So, this murder of crows start flying and then they catch the air currents and away they go. Not many birds play like this, but crows and seagulls do for sure. The air currents have to be right and when they are these amazing birds catch the wind and away they go surfing, they just glide in the wind - so very effortlessly. They are so fun to watch. That’s when you wish you had a high-end video camera to catch them playing.

I love floating around in my pool and looking up at the sky. Depending on the day and the direction of the wind these birds can put on quite a show. One day in June the seagulls decided to do a musical synchronization way up in the sky. Seagulls often fly way up high. They look like diamonds glittering in the sunshine on a clear blue-sky day. There was a flock of about 30 way up there and they appeared to be dancing to the music on my speaker. It was so cool.

One day last year we were playing “Cornhole” on the lawn and about 50 or 60 seagulls came in super low over the house and started surfing. My grandchildren had never seen surfing birds before, so we all stopped playing our game and watched these birds fly over the house and above us for about 15 minutes. They would fly out of the yard and come back in over top the house, just kept repeating this pattern. It was an amazing display of fun being had by these seagulls. The downside that day was because there were so many and flying so low there was a lot of white substance left behind. Fortunately, no one was hit by this loose white bi-product they left behind.

Have you taken time to look up and watch the surfing birds? Well, it’s time you did. Take your nose out of your book or your phone and just look up. Put on some good music. Seagulls love it. My murder of crows are my friends. And be careful what you do to a crow. They remember you for life so don’t make them angry at you. They don’t forget your face - it is embedded in their memory bank. Crows are an extremely intelligent bird. Crow facts are a fun read if you’re looking for more information about them.

I have discovered that crow feathers have mystical powers as well in our yard. Last spring, I had a flowerpot that wasn’t doing as well as some of the other ones. So, while I was out walking, I picked up a crow feather and placed it in the pot of flowers that wasn’t growing as good as the others. Within a couple of days this pot of flowers perked right up and caught up with my other flowerpots. I know - weird right? Since then, I have used this technique several times and the crow feathers never let me down. The flowerpot perks right up. Wacky – I know. Believe or don’t believe, try it, and see if it works for you!

We had a baby crow fall from its nest this spring. You should have heard its parents losing their sh*t over it. What a racket they made. The parents watched over this little guy, not letting our cats make a meal out of it. When my husband found him, he was on the ground, so he picked it up and brought this baby crow into the house and we made eye contact with this guy. We now have a protector of our yard. He put him back on a branch, hoping our cats wouldn’t find him. The next morning, he was on the ground and was hopping around and making attempts to fly. His parents overlooked his growth while he hopped around waiting for the day he would get his wings and launch himself into the air. And he succeeded. I would see him on my morning walk, but not anymore. Once he got his wings, he watched me from up above – in the treetops.

Take a walk, watch the birds, listen to their chatter. Or play some music and watch them dance. Covid has made us stay home and enjoy our backyards. And that is a good thing. Watch sunsets, get up and see the sunrise. Saskatchewan truly does have amazing living skies. If you live in the city take a drive and find a good spot to watch the sun go down. Take a cup of tea and your camera. Enjoy the moment and remember it too.

My music suggestion today is an old one. Some of you will remember it and some won’t. Download and take a listen. It was a great song. When I researched this song, the genre was Acid Rock and Psychedelic Rock – my how the times have changed!

1968: Sky Pilot – Eric Burden and The Animals.

To quote “Sky pilot, how high can you fly? You’ll never, never, never reach the sky”