Swallow-tail Kite
I spent a little time yesterday afternoon watching five swallow-tail kites perform an aerial ballet above the trees and fields a few miles for my house. The swallow-tail kite is the most elegant and graceful member of the raptor family, and its essence was beautifully described many years ago by John James Audubon in his famous book, The Birds of America (1828 —1837):
The flight of this elegant species of Hawk is singularly beautiful and protracted. It moves through the air with such ease and grace, that it is impossible for any individual, who takes the least pleasure in observing the manners of birds, not to be delighted by the sight of it whilst on wing. Gliding along in easy flappings, it rises in wide circles to an immense height, inclining in various ways its deeply forked tail, to assist the direction of its course, dives with the rapidity of lightning, and, suddenly checking itself, reascends, soars away, and is soon out of sight.
Here are some of the other images I made yesterday, punctuated by some important observations about birds:
In order to see birds
it is necessary to become a part of the silence.
Robert Lynd
The very idea of a bird
is a symbol and a suggestion to the poet.
A bird seems to be at the top of the scale,
so vehement and intense is his life,
large-brained, large-lunged, hot, ecstatic,
his frame charged with buoyancy and his heart with song.
John Burroughs
Birds are indicators of the environment.
If they are in trouble, we know we'll soon be in trouble.
Roger Tory Peterson
Happy of happy though I be,
like them I cannot take possession of the sky,
mount with a thoughtless impulse, and wheel there,
one of a mighty multitude whose way
and motion is a harmony and dance magnificent.
William Wordswoth
I would rather learn from one bird how to sing than teach 10,000 stars how not to dance.
E.E. Cummings
Illustration of Swallow-tailed Hawk
(now classified as Swallow-tailed Kite)
by
John James Audubon
The Birds of America
George, these images are so graceful, like a ballet in the sky. I love that second to last photo particularly. I also like the Robert Lynd quote. Stay well!
ReplyDeleteMany thanks, Barb. Always nice to hear from you. We're doing well and I hope the same goes for you and your family.
DeleteDespite the ever increasing numbers of Red Kites in our skies I am always entranced by their buoyant, twisting flight.
ReplyDelete“Approach him across open ground with a steady unfaltering movement. Let your shape grow in size but do not alter its outline. Never hide yourself unless concealment is complete. Be alone. Shun the furtive oddity of man, cringe from the hostile eyes of farms. Learn to fear. To share fear is the greatest bond of all. The hunter must become the thing he hunts.”
― J.A. Baker, The Peregrine
Thanks for the comment, John, and especially for the Baker quote. "The Peregrine" is a classic and one of my favorite books.
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