Bird Watching

The freeway was looking like a parking lot. From the overpass, the line of stationary cars and brake lights blinking on and off extended to infinity. I merged into the far left lane as quickly as I could. And there we came to a stop.

Stop then go. Go then stop. Creeping forward a car-length at a time. You know how it goes.

But the sky was blue. (Oh, here it comes.) And the sun was shining brightly. Trudy had opened the sun roof, and light was streaming in, making me squint but not making me turn my head, since it felt so good.

And the sky was blue. (Did I say that, already?) And in the sky, to the east of where we sat, a vulture circled -- black against that blue.

But what was that!? Something was shimmering in the sky around the vulture. I turned my head to get a better look.

Far above the vulture, too far for me to clearly see them, there were other birds circling on the updrafts. As they turned, their wings caught the sun and glistened briefly white. And then they turned a brownish gray as they circled a bit more and the light caught a different bird.

Far above the vulture, these other birds were. So high that at first they seemed like sparrows. Looking closer, ...

Watch out! Trudy said.

I was watching the birds a little too closely for someone driving in rush hour traffic. But soon I turned my head and gawked some more. These were very large birds, I was convinced of it. They looked like cranes -- cranes perhaps circling as they passed over the heat of the city. Flying north, I imagined. (Is it too early for that?)

Look! I said to Trudy, but she was more interested in looking at the truck in front of us -- making sure I didn't roll into it.

I turned to look again, but by this time most of the birds were out of sight. Their circling had taken them so high in the few moments that we sat there, I could now only see six or so of the original several dozen.

When I turned to look again, they were gone, leaving nothing but that clear, blue sky and the bright shining sun.

It's going to be a good weekend.

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