Taexalia

wild.life

Messages About Marking Territory

The birds that catch my eye just now are the birds marking territory. Is this a message, or a mirror, or an affirmation?

The Buzzard is not hunting when it glides against the clouds. The Buzzard hunts from the vantage point of a fence post, a telegraph pole or a tree. No, when the Buzzards are tilting on the wind, soaring and circling, they are marking airspace and conversing over who can fly where. They may even be describing their home and territory to a potential mate. But they do not hunt.

The Mistle Thrush still comes to dominate the garden, though less frequent now the snow has melted. When he is here, he positions himself above the food source and ritually defends the stash with fight flight displays. Most other birds are banished to the fenceline, darting in to swipe a morsel when the thrush is distracted by someone else.

Buzzard and Mistle Thrush defining what is theirs, sometimes with grace and sometimes with chase, and affirming the whispers of Vasalisa about claiming my boundaries and relishing my territory.

Survival.

Written in response to this week's Sunday Scribblings.