January 7, 2009

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  Click on picture to enlarge.

  “Snow geese fly 2500 miles from the Gulf of Mexico to the Artic lands.”  (Vietnamese “migrated” half the earth to America).  ”They fly often with thousands of miles, beset with danger, for a single reason:  to survive.  Their migration is a flight for life.”

  “For every migration, there is a promise.  A promise to return.”

   

  They left in winter and return in spring.  By the fall they start the cycle once again.

    

  Sometimes, I wonder what we can see in the view of birds.  Do they realize that they  have seen a lot of wonders that  human may not see in a life time?  Somewhere in this earth, there are holes as large as a small pond blowing bubbles by gas buried deeply below the earth, bursting water into the air, and forming gas again ready for another bubble. 

  

  An avalanche

  

  If you click the photo to enlarge it, you will see the newly hatched bird is pushing another egg out of the nest.  Perhaps survival skill is innate.  To secure the mother’s feeding for himself and only for himself, the bird pushes his sibling out of the way. 

    

      

    

     

  From left to right: Bald eagle is spotted in Yellow Stone Park, Greater Sage Grouse in Idaho, (?).  The last picture is the picture of a strange bird whose name I forgot to write down.  When they search for food, their wings spread and cover their head.  Look like someone wearing a cloak and kowtowing with their hands forming a circle in front of them.  Ahh, you have to see the Grouse when they flirt and fight.  Their chests pop in and out like a drum, and sound like the sound of a drum too.

   

  If you click on the fourth picture from left, you will see a group of geese.  They look like just a trace of cloud in formation.  The seagulls nest on cliff and rocks in the last picture from this row. 

      

  Dances of the birds.  The phoebes walk on water.  The red crown cranes dance on a pond in Japan.  Cranes and swans reportedly pair for life.  Just like many couples marry for a long time, they walk the same way, the same rythm.  They argue too.  Couple in love, their arguments sound like a song to us. Hoang Vy post your argument with Tai for us to see. 

  

  The red crown swans dance, a dance of love, in the Arabian desert.  It is surreal to see these birds.  They are very graceful.  I thought they only existed in Chinese painting.

     

  Birds migrate several thousands miles.  In the first picture from left the birds passed by the twin towers.  Houses in an exotic country.  If you enlarge this picture you will see a flock of birds flying low.  Passing by the Eiffel tower, and the Great Wall of China

      

  Indian preservation. In their migration, the birds seek refuge in the shade of the car and drinking some water leaking from the car and flying with the horses.

   

  The first picture reminded me something I had seen in Vietnam.  A net that is used to catch tiny fish, shrimps, or crabs in Southern Vietnam rural.  It may be strange to you but we who live far from home always look for something that resembles or represents a memory, a piece of life we have left behind.  In the second picture you will see in the background the poplar trees.  Something is very familiar to people who live in the Europe or North America, but Vietnamese may find them interesting.  The last one depict the birds in a field full of wild flowers. 

   

  Click on the first one you will see the Liberty Statue.  Second one, I love the look of the stone house. 

  

  

   

  This looks like the state where I am living.  Each fall, when the maples turn color, the snow geese fly above, leaving behind them melancholic cries like a sad song.  Their voice sometimes sounds desperate, as if they try to catch their breath with each wing flapping.  In the air, there is fragrance of autumn, the smoke of burnt wood, trails of smoke swaying in the cold air, and sweetness of warm apple cider.  Each time that I hear the song of migrating birds is each time I remember a fable about a little boy sitting on the neck of a giant flying bird, his scarf flying wildly, . . .

  

  

  The whooping cranes in Vietnam.  They are the image in Trịnh Công Sơn’s song Như Cánh Vạc Bay, vai em gầy guộc nhỏ như cánh vạc về chốn xa xôi.  The limestone mountains are in Northern of Vietnam.  A boy rode a buffalo cart.

  Every mile and every year,
  For every one a single tear,
  I cannot explain this, dear,
  I will not even try.
  
  For I know one thing,
  Love comes on a wing,
  For tonight I will be by your side,
  But tomorrow I will fly.

  The pictures are copied from the CD Winged Migration.  Lyrics are from the song To Be By Your Side of Nick Cave. 

   

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