birds

A Swift Story

~ Kate Wilson ~ 6 Comments

If birds come into my life I pay attention

The robin that flew round the room when I revisited my old home in Inverness, the white owl that very very occasionally flew across my vision when I was driving home from Penzance, even the two little ceramic birds that I bought when I was back in Cornwall.  They both were survivors of a shelving accident and had broken tips to their wings. I brought them home to Granollers and Pep glued them back together again.
A week ago today I was in my room which I call my Niu – my nest. It looks onto the terrace and at the door there is a sort of gully where the steps start. I noticed something dark and fluttery right in the corner of the gully. It was a bird, unable to climb out. I put it onto the terrace tiles and it stretched its wings and identified itself instantly as a swift.

Then started two days of intense relationship between me and the bird.

I found a wonderful web site that suggested ways to help a young swift take to the air again. But it had some injuries to one wing and also seemed inexperienced in flight.

We tried to launch her on the terrace – resulting in several bad thumps to the ground. I gave her water and she drank.   She allowed me to lift  and hold her up to the air without a tweet. She  just looked around with interest. Whenever she felt the air brushing her feathers she would start to flap and thentake off. But it always ended with a fall to the ground.

After a few attempts she got tired and I left her in a shady spot.

Day two and she was nowhere to be found

I knew that swifts cannot get off the ground once landed. Their wings are so long and their legs so short that they can’t push off unless they are up high on a ledge and can launch from there.  She disappeared so of course I assumed she had died in a corner.  A few hours later I heard rustling from the patio one floor down and looking over the railing, I  saw her bobbing around on the floor. She had found herself a ledge on the edge of the terrace and launched once more but unfortunately there wasn’t the space to fly and she took another rough landing. But survived!

In the late afternoon I took her up to the fields above Granollers, beside the tower.  It is a place  I go often when I need some space and fresh air.

It was a sad and worrying walk from the house up to the top with the bird quietly waiting inside a shoe box. Once there I held her up in my  outstretched palms and did what the experts recommend, gently raising and lowering my hands so the air flow encourages the bird to open her wings.

After a few moments she took off…… and then fell to the ground.

We tried again…..this time she went a little further. She was so determined yet each fall seemed to me so violent. But there is no other way. The third flight was the longest and I willed her to stay up but she lacked strength and ended up in a bush. After that she was happy to stay in my hands and stretch her wings but showed no desire to try again. We plodded home  and I found her a bigger box with air-holes and added lots of flies and mosquitoes to her home.  She didn’t want to eat from me although she would drink drops of water from my fingers.

It is such a sad thing to see a swift on the ground – it’s just totally the wrong place. Perhaps there are other birds who could manage an earthbound life but a swift must fly.
The next day I had to go to Barcelona with my friends and I left her resting at home. She seemed quiet and sleepy.  There was someone to look out for her during the day.

When I got back in the evening, she had died.

That is the story of me and the Swift. I love these birds and watch them every day from the terrace. It was a huge honour to be able to connect so closely with one and very painful to watch her plight.

I’m glad she was able to go gently and will not forget how strongly she tried to survive.

And now the swifts

~ Kate Wilson ~ 10 Comments

A thousand birds are in my grove,
Melodious from morn to night;
My fruit trees are their treasure trove,
Their happiness is my delight.               Robert Service The Bird Sanctuary

The swifts arrived this morning while I was out on the terrace watering the plants.

I had just commented to my partner that last year they arrived on April 7th when I heard a familiar chatter, looked up, and they flew over. It wasn’t their normal screeching sound – definitely more like a ‘well here we are – back in Granollers’ conversation.

About 7 or 8 of them and how lovely to see them surfing the currents high above our home.

Why do I never see people here looking up in wonder at the birds?

Speaking of which….one of the things I imported from the UK was a new bird feeder as I can’t find anything like that in Catalunya. I need to make up some seed mix though – any suggestions about what to put in?

The Swallows have arrived!

~ Kate Wilson ~ 3 Comments

I know I have already written two posts today and one on Falset is pending but I can’t not mention that the swallows have arrived in Granollers!
Orenetes!   Lots of them swooping down by the river. So exciting.
I walked with Duna down to the river – as you can see it’s not exactly rural heaven, there is a field of long grass and some ramshackle allotments but it is backed by large blocks of flats and you have to pick your way around the rubbish and dog shit.

However…wherever there are birds there is beauty.

And something else happened – the collie that I always greet as I pass, the one who is tied up in a hen yard and who wags his tail when I call Hola Guapo!, this beautiful black and white collie was out for a free walk and it turns out should be called Guapa.  She was dancing around me and Duna and the other dogs who were also out for the evening. She was obviously on heat and luckily the little one who was most interested couldn’t reach. Her owner seemed pleasant but fairly clueless about the facts of life and worried me by saying he wants to exercise her and let her run free but doesn’t want to have to kill puppies.
All I could do was tell him I think the next week is the most dangerous and  then have a long stroking session with her and a chat about not letting other dogs get too close. She seemed to listen.

It’s hard – you have to accept that’s how it is. I always keep an eye on her and she was one of the most friendly and calm collies I have ever met.  It was good to meet her at last.

A Little Piece of Me: Wednesday Wings – Sandpiper Flight

~ Kate Wilson ~ Leave a comment

A Little Piece of Me: Wednesday Wings – Sandpiper Flight:

“Exude happiness and you will feel it back a thousand times. – Joan Lunden A Spotted Sandpiper from last May. Wishing you all a Happy Day!”

The link above is to a blog that I visit regularly. The writer takes wonderful photos and links them with a nice thought for the day. This one is amazing – I’ve never seen a Sandpiper flying before and I can’t imagine how you would catch it on camera.
Seems a good way to end the month. See you in April!

High above Granollers

~ Kate Wilson ~ 9 Comments

 

I took a walk this evening up to the derelict tower that sits on a hill overlooking GranollersThe tower Torre de Pinos is an old fortified defense tower built in the 14th century and now half in ruins it is protected but not really cherished.
But the place is magical. I took these photos on a sunny afternoon last week, walking along flower lined paths while trying to take photographs of the swifts. It is not easy to catch one moment of their flight path as they are the ultimate aerial birds. I had many photos of empty blue sky! Swifts eat, drink, mate and sleep on the wing and only come to earth for long enough to nest and feed their young. Barcelona is full of the sound of their excited cries and from our terrace here I can watch them at night. In Catala they are called Falciots, not orinetes which are swallows. Up in the fields around the Torre, high above Granollers, in the evening when the air is full of flying insects, I am able to feel as if I am in their world.
Tonight I went to the Torre just before sunset. The sun was hiding at first behind a large cloud and I watched it slowly emerge like a luminescent red balloon to glow with midsummer fire before settling down behind the hills. I had no camera and could only wonder and marvel at the dance of the swifts, the rays of purple light spreading across the sky and the wildness of this place so close to the city. So often I stand with my neck craned to watch them high above but tonight I had the amazing experience of having them whizz past my head so close I could hear their wing beat.
Life sometimes throws at us ‘momentos malos’ and it was in this kind of mood that I climbed the hill tonight with Duna as my companion. I felt very aware that nowhere within miles or kilometers was there anyone I could talk to freely in my own language. I was missing not so much ‘home’ but the feeling of ‘being at home’. If you ever imagine living in another country, include this in the fantasy, it can be hard! Small things can feel like the last straw and it is easy to feel inadequate when you can’t freely do the most normal thing – talk. So,what to do, where to turn?
For me it is to nature, which exists outside frontiers and customs, languages and barriers, frustrations and misunderstandings. All exists in the moment and tonight as the light was dying it was beautiful to be part of that moment.