Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Les Grues Se Retournent


There sre two seasonal events that occur in the rythmn of my life here in La Sechere that profoundly affect my moods, my very being, my seasonal psyche...and they both involve perhaps even the same groups of birds.

In November, I begin to hear the cries of the cranes as they fly over in big arcs, wheeling about the sky trying to find the true direction and taking the best tack into the winds as they head south.
The birds are the grues cendrees, or perhaps in English, gray heron. They migrate to Northern Africa in late fall and then return in the spring.

When I hear them in the autumn, I am resigned to the fact that winter is not very far away. I think I am a person who is truly affected by the seasonal change. I love sunlight and sometimes I feel I am solar powered. As winter lags on, I feel my battery drain and I get slower and slower....this winter seemed to go on and on and on and on.....

Then, today, it seems like another rainy late winter day in the Dordogne, except, if I really look, in the right places, primroses are starting to bloom, all of the hazelnut trees are full of catkins...daffodils are beginning to poke up and show buds...the hellebore are all blooming...

Then, dramatically, the sun came out, the temperature rose to about 60 degrees! Thunderstorms darkly rumbled ominously on the horizon across the valley, but I took off with the dog running down the hill in the wildly springlike scented air. As we ran down the hill, I saw that the thunderstoem clouds were headed in our direction!
The ground was spouting water from the mole hills! So we walked throught the forest as the thunder got louder and louder and made our way back up to the top. Then I heard the cry of the grues in the distance. I looked up but the storm clouds were rapidly covering the sky. As we got back to the driveway, I heard the cries louder and louder and right above me was a huge group of 2 V shape flocks which linked up into a huge arc propelled by the storm across the sky!
Spring arrives in the Dordogne...........

3 comments:

mud_rake said...

Oh, the joy! Loved the YouTube presentation. In this neck of the woods the birds are chirping more and more each day, while the earth is covered with 15 cm of snow and ice.

The onlt sign of spring here, and not visible except for those who look for it, is the witch hazel which has opened its tiny yellow flowers, hoping to lure a bee. Interestingly, the scent only occurs if direct sunlight strikes the blossom. Otherwise, there is absolutely no fragrance. Cleaver stuff!

Enjoy, my Frankish friend!

mud_rake said...

More snow today with temps hovering at 0° C. If there are daffodils under the snow, surely they are safely and deeply in winter slumber.

microdot said...

Mudrake, you seem to have prodded the twittering carolinia drooler out of her hibernation. Man, I'm sure glad she doesn't have my phone #...
I saw her video and it was way scary!