Being a huge Seinfeld fan, I feel that most life situations can be related to an episode of said series. I also find that , more often than not, I am the only one to appreciate the comparisons. The last time I tried to relate this to someone, they stared at me blankly before stating " I never liked that show". I don't know how many of you out there are fans as well, but for those who are, perhaps you remember the episode where George runs over a pigeon. His date is horrified at which point he tries to explain that humans and pigeons have an agreement...they are supposed to get out of our way. He thinks the car incident is a fluke and goes to the park where he kicks a pigeon in front of a young boy and his shocked mother.
I have not seen many pigeons here, but there certainly is no shortage of avian life here. There are spoon bill herons, pink flamingos, storks, vultures, pelicans and a cast of others too numerous ( and unknown ) to mention. One thing many of them have in common is they have a very different modus oporundi. First case in point.....when driving at night, it is very, very dark out our way as there are no street lights between towns. you never know what you might come across on the road so it's important to be somewhat hypervigilant. So, you grip the wheel and lean forward (because we all know that somehow enhances your vision) looking for any forms of life that may be crossing your path. Periodically, you see a set of glowing eyes that usually belong to a dog that knows enough to retreat into the brush as you approach but from time to time this glowing set of eyes propells itself upward and heads directly at the windshield missing it seemingly by inches. This always makes us grateful for the massive amounts of raw garlic we've been eating ( its good for the heart in addition to being a fine insect repellant). These are birds that for some reason, choose to sit in the road and wait for the last possible second to move. i believe the are called nightjars. Then we have case #2....John likes to "check the perimeter" at night. He stands at various points around the house with a flashlight illuminating the night and hoping not to find anything. One night during his rounds, he called quietly for me to "check this out". I joined him on the back porch and after several "over there...to the left"s I saw a bird about two feet tall standing between the cocnut trees. I can only describe it as dorky. He had a look about him like a high school nerd who's just been busted accidently walking into the girls bathroom. He moved very stiffly a few paces to the right where he positioned himself behind the trunk of a tree. It reminded me of when I was little I thought I was invisible to monsters if I was under the sheet. I wanted to say "we know you're there you know". We waited for several moments then moved around to where the light shone on him again. After freezing for a bit he was off again wandering around the back yard. For the next several nights, the same scene played out. Then one night upon our return from the internet, we pulled into the driveway (in the dark) and who was there but our guy. We stopped the truck at the gate. he didn't shy from the headlights but actually started to approach the truck. He positioned his body in a way that looked like he was straining to see who we were and asking" is that you Bob?" ( we have since named him the bob bird). He continued to move toward the truck until he was about three feet away. As if suddenly realizing we weren't who he thought we were, he scurried off around the corner of the house and into the back yard. Case #3 is an odd little thrush. He first appeared about five days ago. We were just waking up and heard a strange tapping noise. It was this thrush pecking the window. After several pecks, he would move over just a few inches and repeat. This escalated into full fledged head banging and when that didn't achieve it's desired outcome- whatever that was- it flew up a bit and literally threw its entire body at the window. This has gone on for five days now every morning at dawn. Always at the same window, same time. I saw a robin in the back yard the other morning by John's compost pile and the thrush flew down and drove it away.
I spoke to a woman the other day and she said "there's something weird with the birds down here. We've hit so many of them with our car it's awful. We never hit any in the states". So you see, that just confirmed my thoughts. Evidently, there is no deal here. Maybe learning cultural differences and nuances doesn't just apply with the human population. Maybe there is in fact a deal in place down here that I just haven't discovered yet because I haven't learned the language.
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