Birds, Birds, and More Birds

This post originally appeared on Science for Citizens.net, but I was only able to upload one image to that site.

It's occurred to me lately that you really don't notice something until you're looking for it. For example, you don't worry about the location of your car keys until you need to drive somewhere and they're not where you expect them to be. On the flip side (a reference to phonograph albums, kids--ask your parents to show you one), while you might intellectually understand that there are bugs in your neighborhood, you don't really care until they're inside your home.

What about birds? Well, Sci4Cits had this bird count activity going on, so I started looking up more. Or listening more carefully to how much chirping was going on outside my window in the morning. And what I discovered was...a LOT. Now that it's warm enough in Huntsville, AL, to go outside without winter clothing, I have more opportunity for such things. And this is how I started seeing flocks and flocks of birds. Clouds of them. Rivers! Yesterday I was treated to a flock that took over a full minute to fly over. Darlene suggested I post pictures. All I've had on these walks is my cell phone, so bear with me if they're not the best quality, but seriously folks. There are a LOT of birds out there--more than I'm going to be able to count in a minute-and-13-second flyover.

Paging Alfred Hitchcock...

And of course those birds have to nest somewhere...