Birds, birds, birds

Sid and I have begun our second week of morning rides (I'm so proud of us).  Most of the ride happens before the first light of dawn.  The last time I spent much time outside before dawn, I was attempting to walk Sheela to sleep as an infant.  Five minutes with her outside always put her out.  But I rarely got to enjoy those walks, I was typically tired and cranky and focused on not dropping the sleeping little bundle of joy. 

 

Before that it was all the way back to middle school when I would do Brian's paper route.  What I remember most about those charming early mornings were the bull bats circling over head and then diving at me with blood thirsty abandon.  Even after learning what they were and how little they cared about my presence I had to pep myself up to run from one apartment door to the next because the silence before the attack was so unnerving.

 

Since that time I've rarely been out near a metro area, at dusk or dawn, when I haven't heard the bull bats circling though I've never had them diving close enough for me to hear the wind whistling through the "holes" in their wings like I did back then.  This morning I was listening to them and keeping track of where they were at all times like I always do when two of the largest birds I've ever seen glided past in front of me.  They came silently out of nowhere and disappeared through the trees by the pond almost before I could register them.  It was a pair of great blue herons.  That was a great way to start the day.  I hope I get to see more of them and less of the bull bats.