About every other week I run this 5-mile loop that takes me into an adjacent neighborhood with two big hills and one really strange house. This place on Picrus Street stands out among all the other stucco-and-red-tile tract homes because of one thing: It reeks of birdsong.
About a half block away you start to hear the loudest chirpers and by the time you reach the house, it sounds like a zoo aviary in the throes of spring breeding. During the day, it's probably a delight. But in the still darkness of pre-dawn, it sounds a little like the crows in that Alfred Hitchcock horror movie. I don't know how the neighbors can stand it.
What I'm still trying to figure out is whether these birds are being held captive or just taken with this particular backyard. And how on earth can anyone sleep through that?!
There must be hundreds of them, maybe thousands, heard but never seen, each calling out for attention or for help every time they hear the approaching footfalls of a would-be suitor or savior in running shoes.
17 comments:
It's nice that you're greeted by the birds!
Perhaps they're migratory birds nesting in a large tree and that's the best place to find food?
Just a guess.
There's a house like that just up the street from us. The chatter seems to quiet down as the day goes on.
drama queen mother
Sounds like a Kodak moment. Do you constantly have to look up, just in case the Hitchcock movie plays out? Ha, the word verification was 'hiburd'....
Ummm.....just don't look up eh! I had a rooster that crowed every time someone switched on the yard light but this is creepy.
That actually sounds cool. Maybe they know you are coming and wait there for you.
The wonder of nature.
When I lived in California it was the frogs that woke us at 5AM.
Imagine a world with no birdsongs...
how creepy is that!
That's very strange. Each fall we have flocks of starlings that pass through. They seem to like to spend time in the fir trees around our house and they are so noisy! I can just imagine..
Things like that make you feel so much more alive as you run by and experience the outside world that few others bother to experience.
Love to be greeted by birds, but that's sortof creepy...shouldn't they be asleep at night?
Wow Anne, that would creep me out! If I had a neighbor like that, I would pull all my hairs out every night when trying to sleep.
Every time I see birds like that I get completely freaked out...Blame Alfred Hitchcock's movie "The Birds." I don't know if I'd even be able to run by the place...
Oh no...did I ruin it for you?
Tape record them and play it on an iPod when you compete so you feel at home!
The same here, there are flocks of starlings that come to the city in late afternoon. It is a tragedy if you are under their flight, you can easily imagine the reason.
All I can think of is the movie Steel Magnolias ;) A tree full of birds is either beautiful or a nightmare depending on the day...
oh, maybe a book in the works . . . sounds creepy to me. do keep us posted - i'd like to know if they are 'pets'.
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