The Man Bird Experiment

Bird in Flight

Bird in Flight

All day I think about it,

then at night I say it.

Where did I come from,

and what am I supposed to be doing?

I have no idea.

My soul is from elsewhere,

I'm sure of that,

and I intend to end up there.

This drunkenness began in some other tavern.

When I get back around to that place,

I'll be completely sober.

Meanwhile,

I'm like a bird from another continent,

sitting in this aviary.

The day is coming when I fly off,

but who is it now in my ear who hears my voice?

Who says words with my mouth?

Who looks out with my eyes?

What is the soul?

I cannot stop asking.

If I could taste one sip of an answer,

I could break out of this prison for drunks.

I didn't come here of my own accord,

and I can't leave that way.

Whoever brought me here

will have to take me home.

This poetry.

I never know what I'm going to say.

I don't plan it.

When I'm outside the saying of it,

I get very quiet

and rarely speak at all.

- Rumi

Bird Rescue Website

The Bird Rescue Center of Sonoma County
has a wonderful new website. This new site contains all kinds of information for the bird enthusiast. Find out what to do if you find a baby bird or an injured bird, visit the online gallery or check out all the related links to other bird sites. Find out about volunteer opportunities, community events and visitor days. while you're there you can easily make a secure, online donation.
Check it out!

Sun, Wind, Whales and Birds

I was at the Bird Rescue Center yesterday to help a friend put bewits and bells on a red-tailed hawk that's being falconry trained to hunt so it can be released this Spring. This is a lovely big, rangy hawk who somehow lost an eye in his first year of life. If it had been a mature bird we would have released it as soon as his eye socket healed but being a juvenile, we have to be know how well it can hunt. While I was at the center I saw Ashling red-shouldered hawk, Pisces the osprey and the other red tail that I've been working with. The two red tails completely ignored each other although Star will call out to the local tails that nest around here when he sees them circling overhead. I couldn't hang around too long though because I wanted to get out to the coast for a mini road trip to celebrate one of my best friends birthday. Before we left Kit tried to give us a demo of the hawk flying after we got the bells on her but she wouldn't show off for us - she looked pretty distracted and she's never been flown any place except the field where she's been trained. On the way out to the ocean, we saw loads of red shoulders, tails, vultures and we passed an osprey nest where it looked like one of the pair was snacking on a fish while the other was in the nest, probably on an egg or two. We hiked up to the light house at the top of Point Reyes which is so high above the wild ocean I get massive vertigo every time. The wind is notorious there and it almost blew my ears off. I heard there are peregrines nesting nearby and sure enough, one of them swooped up the side of the sheer cliff and just kited there above us for several minutes. Just when I had about all the skin flaying wind I could handle, a huge California gray whale breached down below us. It was just visible for about 5 seconds before it dove back down but, man... I was so excited. That's the first whale I've ever seen although they migrate up and down the coast twice a year here. As the sun set over the lagoons we spotted plenty of hawks and falcons though they were difficult to identify in the failing light. What a good good day with sun, wind, whales and birds. Oh yeah and cows, Mag would want me to mention the cows. She thinks I didn't notice.