Ghost Birds

It is believed when a spirit or soul dies a violent, tragic or even extreme type of death, that spirit or soul remains trapped in place somehow due to the nature of the horrible event. Unable to break free from the repeat cycle it now plays over and over, these are not spirits that can communicate. These trapped energies have no idea they are not still alive.

This story is about Ghost Birds.

You can be simply going about your day, normal routine, when suddenly there is a loud bang into the window! An impact so strong it shakes the surrounding walls. You rush outside to see what might be laying by the vibrating window severely injured if not dead. Only you find there is nothing there.

Nothing.

Your eye catches the flutter of one single feather left on the window. You look closer and can see what looks like an imprint of a flying bird. But where did it go? The walls of the house shook from the impact yet there is no bird anywhere around.

Rattled, you head back inside. Your mind racing. How is that possible? Maybe I am crazy. Maybe I am imagining things…

You head to your couch to sit and relax. Let it go. Take a deep breath. Shake off this strange event that has just happened.

Then you glance over at the window and there it is staring back at you with dark empty sockets. The outstretched wings. The slight outline of feathers. It is the ghostly imprint of a flying bird coming straight at you through the glass.image

The image makes you stop. You lean forward to make sure you are really seeing this in broad day light. No night time ghost story here. The sunlight highlighting every detail.

You look away. Eyes unwilling to believe. It’s an illusion. It’s just a smudge. Our eyes are trained to find faces right?

You look over at the other windows in the house. The imprints and outlines are clear. No longer just ignored smudges passed by unnoticed, they are now full and complete images of grayish ghostly birds flying at every window!  Wings bent and crooked, necks turned, beaks open, the moment of impact captured in almost x-ray like detail.image

Your head spins. This is not happening. This is not real.

You run for the window cleaner. That will take care of this madness. You rapidly spray trying to not make eye contact with now melting creature as the paper towel wipes away this awful tragedy.

Bird after bird imprint you spray and wipe until every window is clear.image This was all just surreal. You tell yourself this moment will not be shared. Who is going to believe this?

A shower will help wash this all away. The house grows quiet and everything feels like it’s back to normal.

The hot water hits your tense shoulders as you let out a sigh and laugh. Ghost birds? Shaking your head the hot water runs over your eyes rinsing away the haunting stares and horror.

When suddenly  there is a loud BANG!

You know deep down in your shaking soul it is the window again but refuse to turn the shower water off. If you just stay in the shower this won’t be happening.

The silence only making it worse you turn off the water. As you reach for your towel… BANG! Fear shoots up and down your spine.

Adrenaline rushing with panic setting in you race to the just cleaned window and there it is. Every detail. A flying bird coming straight into the window. This cannot be happening.image

Still wet and in your towel you rush outside convinced this time an injured bird is laying there in need of immediate medical care only to again find nothing.

Nothing.

Your head spins. Afraid to even look at the windows you run to the closet to throw on clothes just in case you need to leave. Convinced you have lost your mind, you start to move slowly through the house. The Ghost Birds are watching. They know you have seen them.

Your eyes betray you and glance over catching the much larger image of a bird. Wings so large they reach to the very corners of the window. Face contorted with the agony of the impact staring at you with those now familiar black sockets that bore through your soul.

Frozen with fear you stare amazed at the size of the imprint. A bird this large would have surely cracked the glass at the very least flying full speed into the window. But you saw it with your own eyes, heard the bang, felt the vibration. There is nothing outside. Just the imprint of a flight gone horribly wrong.

These are Ghost Birds.

A little dust

The monsoon season can be very unpredictable. Where the rain falls, the strong winds blowing down trees, major flooding and fire causing lightning strikes all are up for grabs when one of these storms blasts its way through the Valley of the Sun.IMG_2326

(6:17 pm )

We have gone about a week or so since our last round of monsoon storms. It has been hot and extremely dry. Nothing happening in the sky just big and blue and radiating heat.

Then yesterday the storms rolled back in! The sky started to change and roll and move. Out here in Gold Canyon the storm brought us very little if any rain but flooded areas only minutes away. These storms are dangerous so everyone out here in the desert watches the radar and news reports closely. Walls of dust come at us and can blind drivers.IMG_2379.JPG

(6:30 pm)

The randomness of these storms must throw the desert animals off their routines a little. I caught a quick set of coyote howls right at the start of the storm. Seriously I dismissed it as a dog until it got going but didn’t catch all of it. No others answered the call like they normally do at night. (6:22 pm)

Strong gust blasted areas. I caught a little on video for us but again this is a dust storm so being out in it hurts the eyes.

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 (6:39pm) We were spared over here from any major damage as the storm split and headed off to the north but as with every storm it’s disappointing to not get any rain.

The clouds made for some really fun imagery. Maybe I have written about ghost birds too much lately but I swear a few of those clouds were birds! It was like they flew in with the storm. Ok, maybe I need more sleep.IMG_2344IMG_2353

(6:20 pm )

We are expecting another round tonight. Fingers crossed for a nice amount of rain and some more fabulous images in the sky!

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Ghost Birds

BAM! The thick glass vibrates. The house withstands the impact. The feathers fly. I check outside to see if there is anything laying there dazed and confused. Nope. Nothing. Just feathers.image

This is common enough that I have had to decide just how many bird imprints I can look through before I clean the windows again. The majestic views from our living room windows are way less majestic when your eyes become distracted by fluttering feathers of fly bys gone wrong.image

If you look you will see eyes, beaks, wings. Grayish, ghost like outlines staring back as if they were still flying through. Ghost birds. Certain lighting, certain times of the day it is haunting.image

We close the blinds but it happens anyways. The two large windows that face North East and have spectacular views are the only windows this happens to. The rest of the house remains calm. There is no pattern or time of day it happens more often so every time is unnerving.image

Cleaning the windows is the equivalent of sending out false radar directing the birds to fly straight into the clear glass at high speed. It must be done with consideration.image

The longest I have let it go since we moved here in May was 8 imprints. I couldn’t take it anymore! That was on ONE window! I had to clean off the carnage.

The larger birds seem to have better navigational skills thankfully because I’m pretty sure a good sized hawk at full speed is going to do some damage.image

Hummingbirds also seem to have no problem whatsoever flying safely around these windows. So skilled at flying, hummingbirds will hover near the window inspecting the wreckage from the poor flying of another and actually gossip to one another about it. Hummingbirds can and do laugh. I’ve seen it. They obviously don’t believe in ghost birds.image

It took me weeks of trying to get shots this clear on my IPad. Most of the time it couldn’t focus and would simply look through the imprint and window. If you have read Intro to Wildlife Photography you already know I only use an iPad and I would have no idea how to edit or “doctor” a photo.  These are the real deal. Ghost Birds.