Nature Scoreboard Check

The day after I tested positive for Covid, I had to move hotels. I had a two hour gap between the time I checked out of my first and checked into my second. I decided to rest in the shade by the lake in the park outside of my first hotel. In this park, by the lake, in the branches of a willow we’re about 5 huge birds. Egrets I think. I was bird watching for about 30 minutes when I noticed something floating in the water. The remains of an eaten corncob. No corn left, just cob. One of the egrets noticed it at the same time I did. It swooped from its branch and caught up the cob in its mouth. I thought to myself “Surely this bird won’t try to eat this thing. It’d absolutely choke”. Before I can throw something to try and make the bird drop the lethal corn cob, it upends the thing and swallows it whole like a fresh mackerel. I thought “my god this is a bad omen. First Covid and now I’m going to have to witness this beautiful bird croak via corn cob. How is nobody else in the park seeing what I’m seeing.” Lucky for the egret and me, the cob went down easy and the bird flew away not a care in the world. Still sad. But she lived to fight another day. And I learned a lesson. Chuck your finished corn in the compost or you might inadvertently kill an unsuspecting bird. 

The other day I was writing a few blogs on the deck of my hotel by a canal. It was the first day I had virtually no symptoms and needed to get out and get some fresh air and sunshine. A family of swans had been swimming around fishing and bathing in the canal. A black duck with a stark white beak had also been swimming and fishing by this forrest of reeds down by the bank. The black duck went away for a bit and a swan was investigating. All of the sudden I here this commotion on the water. I look to my left and see the black duck LITERALLY RUNNING ACROSS THE WATER flapping it’s wings straight towards the swan. Naturally, the swan scattered (as any sane being would if a duck was running on water right at you). I think maybe the swan got a little too close to the ducks nest.

Final nature scoreboard for this part of the trip. At the Tour de France in Nyborg, Lucy and I were trying to sneak our way into the press grandstands for a better view of the bikers. We were at the front of the line and had an okay view of the race. The guy letting people in basically told us we wouldn’t be able to get in. Right when that happened, something wet fell out of the sky and landed on my arm. Bird shit. A bird shat on my arm. What could I do but die laughing and wipe it off. I wasn’t about to give up our view from the front of the line. 

After writing these I realize they all have to do with birds. Not going to read into that very much.