Seagulls are a portent of doom

Recently, and even though we are far from the sea, I often heard the cries of flocks of seagulls. Even though I cannot see them, I can hear them. They cry is rather harsh and somewhat menacing, especially when you cannot see the birds when hearing it. I became increasingly distrustful and wary of seagulls, as I witnessed their daring behaviour when on holidays. I discovered that my distrust for seagulls might actually be justified: today I read this article from The Guardian, about seagulls )seemingly) becoming more aggressive, nasty, if not downright violent. Read this and tell me what you think. Of course, what comes to my mind automatically is a certain movie. It also reminds me that I have the book the film is based on and that I should find time to read it.

Blackbirds in the tree

I took this picture a few days ago, when I was walking home. It is of the beech tree (anyway I think it's a beech tree, I might be wrong) I blogged about before. This time, there was no crow in it but a huge flock of blackbirds, cawing like crazy, flying around it... You don't see them much, of at all, because the branches of tree are now full of leafs. But it was a very eerie spectacle. It felt and especially sounded like in this famous movie. I know I made this comparison fairly often in the last few months. Maybe I am more conscious of it these days, the eerie nature of some of some birds singing, the rather ominous nature of their presence. I don't have much to say about it, apart from this. It was simply a striking scene.

Creepy Geese

I recently blogged about a menacing seagull. Tonight, it is going to be about creepy geese. As you know from my previous post in English, we went yesterday to meet my whole family in law. It was the occasion to see our niece again, the daughter of my brother in law, who I hadn't seen for two years or so. She is now a teenager, but apart from growing up, her personality hasn't changed all that much: she is as outspoken and full of life (and attitude) as she ever was. She was really happy to see us and we spoke about lots of things...

...Including her pet peeves and fears. She, among other things, developed a disgust for geese and ducks, and pretty much all water birds. And yes, she saw The Birds, but it was after she decided that geese were evil. According to her they are like seagulls (which she does not like either) aggressive, greedy, have a nasty cry and are overall creepy. We walked by a lake near the pub and she exemplified it when she saw the geese on the lake and the shore: "Look at these dark, soulless eyes, as if they'd have empty sockets, these dead stares!" Her dad thinks she uses "like" too much, like all teenagers, but I thought she was nevertheless very eloquent then. Her depiction of the geese certainly deserves to be a new great unknown line. Not her first great unknown line, but it has been a while since I wrote one from her mind on this blog. And because of it, for now on, I will find geese creepy.

A menacing seagull

I was having my lunch break walk this afternoon, a bit late as I usually do. At some point, I saw and especially heard a seagull, flying low above me. It was cawing at me menacingly I think. It flew fairly low, at some point I thought it was about to dive on me like in The Birds, but it went up and then kept remained there, still crying in an ominous way to no one. It really felt like I was in the movie. Which reminds me that I need to read the original novel/novelette by Daphne Du Maurier. Apparently, this is not merely pure horror fiction. In fact, a quick Google search told me that seagulls have been increasingly aggressive in recent years. So watch of the skies and beware of the seagull.

A bird in the house

This is my countdown to Halloween post, which is completely anecdotal. A small event happened this morning and I did not even witness it. Basically, a bird, a starling to be precise, what we call étourneau in Québec, got lost in the chimney of my parents' fireplace in Chicoutimi. It happened before, but usually it was the basement's fireplace, this time it was the upstairs one. My dad managed to get a hold of him and release him in nature. So he saved a bird's life.

This isHalloween related for two reasons: 1)in folklore, a bird showing up in a house is considered a bad omen. 2)It reminds me of a scene in The Birds. I have seen the movie fairly often, it is not on my usual Halloween list of horror movies, but I do watch it form time to time. I even bought the original novel by Daphne Du Maurier. I haven't read it yet. Just for kicks, I have uploaded the famous scene form the movie.