The swallows are back. I heard and saw them at dusk yesterday. Now I really know we’re on the way to summer.
I’m rather in awe of these little birds that spend their winters with the elephants in Africa but choose to come all the way to Soup Towers to raise their family each summer. Their cries are so much part of our summers that I did an aural ‘double-take’ yesterday evening before I registered what I was hearing. I don’t mind putting up with the splats so close to the house because of the privilege of house-sharing with such exotic visitors. and the fledglings when they emerge are adorable.
Of course, they may have been here for days and I’ve not been outside enough to notice them - sigh.
“Children are full of natural curiosity and wonder” said the endlessly repeated talky-bit on my children’s Baby Einstein video. Trouble is, they don’t have much context for things. My Offspring seemed underwhelmed when I enthused at breakfast about swallows, migration and Africa. When they still think that they could get to China by car in a day, little birds flying from Botswana (without SatNav) just doesn’t seem to cut it…
Welcome back, swallows. I think you’re fab. And you’re part of my kids’ childhood summers even if they’ve yet to appreciate you.
0 Responses to “The Birds of Summer”