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Related posts:  Untitled IV

                         Urban Hawks

Moon Flight

"𝑆𝑒𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑛 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠"

Another card from the mysterious unknown deck

(Is it pretentious that I got it translated to Latin?^)

Phoenix On A Sidewalk

No, this isn't another one of those Dead Bird (#1, #2, #3, #4) posts.  I just happened to spot this stain on the sidewalk

and knew instantly what I had to do with it.  I brought it home, did some simple basic edits -- and it was reborn in dramatic fashion as the fabled Phoenix, the immortal bird that, having reached the end of a five hundred-year cycle (sources may differ on this point), immolates itself in a pyre and then is reborn from the ashes, young and renewed, as the next generation of itself.

What The Cat Left Behind

At least, I assume a cat was responsible.  I have seen stray cats -- or perhaps just indoor cats on outdoor patrol -- roaming the neighborhood on numerous occasions, but never a stray dog (or weasels or racoons or any other kind of feral creatures, for that matter).

The sight reminded me of another incident from a couple of weeks ago -- a roadkill pigeon.  But how does a bird get run over by a car?  Was it lying helpless on the road because it was sick or dying, or perhaps already dead?  I'm reproducing those images here also, albeit shrunk down, due to their gruesome nature (feel free to expand them, though).

Related posts:  I Guess "Lucky" Really Isn't The Word...                                 Errant Wing                                                                               Dead Bird                                                                                 Dead Hummingbird

More Tracks In Snow

 

This reminded me of the mysterious "Devil's Footprints" (Devon, England, 1855) incident, where the residents of a town got up one winter morning to find odd footprint-like marks in the snow, for dozens of miles all around, apparently jumping over walls and houses, and even crossing rivers.  Although there have been attempts at an explanation, not to mention questions regarding the veracity or accuracy of the reportage, it remains unsolved to this day.

Related post:  Pigeon Tracks In The Snow

EDIT:  While re-checking out this post I was struck by the resemblance the photograph bears to Chinese caligraphy.  Which then got me recalling a passage out of the novel Silky! by one of my favorite authors, Leo Rosten, in which the main character Silky (aka Sidney Pincus, wisecracking Jewish private detective) compares Chinese writing to what results when a rooster with his feet dipped in ink runs across a sheet of paper.

I Guess "Lucky" Really Isn't The Word To Use here...

"Serendipitous", maybe?  That doesn't seem quite appropriate either, but plain old "coincidence" doesn't seem to do the incident justice, somehow.  A "meaningful coincidence"?  Maybe, but I don't really know what meaning to ascribe to it.

Anyway, a few hours earlier I set out on a walk, like I do every day.  As I was passing by this grocery store I heard a dull thud;  I turned to look, and there was what might have been a crumpled hat (I was wearing very dark sunglasses and it tends to filter out details to some degree).  Thinking it might have been dropped by a construction worker working high up, I went and looked closer -- and realized it was a dove.

It was still alive, just barely.  I immediately took out my phone camera, and as I clicked away it closed its eyes (well, its nictitating membranes) and stopped moving -- I had just witnessed the death of the creature.  I should have switched to video mode and recorded its dying moment, I could have kicked myself.

The shop proprietor saw me shooting away, became curious and came out.  I told him the bird had just fallen a moment before.  Then a woman came along, seemed curious and gingerly turned the little body over with her foot.

The proprietor went back inside and came back out carrying a plastic bag, grumbling about something so inauspicious happening right in front of his shop.

I had only once before witnessed the actual dying of a creature.  Many years ago I was renting a room in an old building to use as a painting studio.  One day, as I was climbing the stairs I happened to look out the window over the landing, and saw a butterfly flutter down on the roof of the building next door.  Amazingly, it fell onto its side and didn't move, exept for its upper wing being blown about by the breeze.  I had just witnessed the end of its life.  Some years later, in creative writing class I wrote a short story inspired by the incident.  It was titled "A Small Death" and was about a boy recalling the death of a butterfly while attending his older brother's funeral.  Unfortunately, I don't have it any more.

Here are three close-calls from the past, where I narrowly missed witnessing the dying moment of some creature:  

Dead Bird

Another Butterfly Story

Dead Hummingbird

A Well-Timed Shot

Fledgling

I'm calling this Leaving the Nest.

Blue Bird Coming In For A Landing

Two Birds

Bird overflying a cloud-bird.

Related post:  The Crawfordsville Monster Returns

Just Looks Odd

I happened to catch this crow just as it was taking off from the sidewalk, and the resulting image has me a little fascinated.  Normally you just don't see birds "floating" like this -- you always see them either flying up there, or safely on the ground, or perched on a branch -- not like this one at this awkward knee-level height, seemingly hovering just above its own shadow with wings folded.  It really looks as if it were stuck in a 'glitch in the matrix'.

Skrying

Or, as an alternate title, "My *ba in Hell".

*One of the aspects of a person's soul that the ancient Egyptians believed survived the death of the physical body and was usually depicted in art in birdlike form

Related post:  A Joke About A Very Serious Subject

Fly Home, Shadow Bird

Related posts:  Two Skies;  Sliding;  Darkening Bird

Darkening Bird

If the bird were 2-dimensional like its shadow, it would melt into the shadow of the wall and disappear.  Would it then still continue to exist, or would its walk be one-way only?

Related post:  Two Skies

Spur-Of-The-Moment

While visiting touristy BukChon, I happened upon this establishment with symbolic bird carvings out front.  While photographing one of them juxtaposed with the real thing in the background, I happened to see an aircraft forming a vapor trail far off (middle shot, center left).  And of course, I immediately realized the potential.

One More Crow Photo

I just know there's a story here.  A lone crow in a private, secluded spot away from prying eyes, apparently finally feeling free to say something out loud that she's been keeping all pent-up for the longest, torturous time?  And under an empty flagpole, of all places!  Come now, of course there's a backstory.  It could turn out to be largely humorous, along the lines of "the king has ass's ears" -- but perhaps it's far more dark, like Hans Christian Andersen's pretty-but-ultimately-tragic stories (probably patterned after his own life;  despite the immense popularity of his stories, when it came to his private life Andersen was a rather pathetic, unfulfilled case -- the ladies, including even noble ladies, loved his storytelling, but not so much him personally;  also, there's that rumor that he was homo- or bisexual and carried an unquenchable torch for a man who did not return his affections -- at least not in "that way"...) that start out fairly innocent but go on to unbelievably heart-rending conclusions, like the "Steadfast Tin Soldier" and "The Red Shoes".  And here I go, over and down the Pessimist Hill again.

Related post:  Fairy Tale Moon

Find The Birdie

I took a shot of these dramatic clouds on a whim, as I'm wont to do.  I'm always taking multiple shots of whatever happens to catch my fancy at the moment;  most of them get deleted later, as they don't stand up well to a second look and I'm a miser about memory space.  This one, though, passed muster thanks to an overlooked detail that added a "small" but well-placed layer of interest.

Ya Lookin' At Me?

 

Untitled IV

Waiting

Or "Patience"

Or maybe "Like Attracts Like"