The Silhouetted Sentinel

Blackbird poised on the edge of the roof. At least he has the look of a powerful creature....

"In order to see birds it is necessary to become part of the silence" ~ Robert Lynd

When I saw this picture in my camera shots, Alfred Hitchcock's movie The Birds immediately came to mind. He knew how to make you squirm inside and spend the entire movie tensely wondering what would happen next. But the man did not know how to end a movie, at least he didn't know how to end this one. I always thought I had missed the ending each time I watched it on TV... I would switch to another channel when the characters were getting into that car to get away from the millions of birds... and when I switched back, it was over and the credits were running. So, one time I forced myself to keep focused on that car and to my shock.. it simply drove off. What happened? They simply drove away and it was over. Is that an ending?! No answers to any questions... Why were the lovebirds not effected? What happened to the birds, did they simply stop congregating and go away? Why didn't they attack the car like they had before? Who cleaned up all that bird poop? I have to tell you that that was one of the most disappointing endings to any movie I had ever seen... not satisfying at all.

We occasionally have one of those flocks of blackbirds that cover the back yard looking for food and then with one noise or one movement in the bush, they ascend almost as one into the sky and in a wave, move on to another rooftop and yard. I think this fellow was the sentinel or lookout. You see, we have a hawk... a Cooper's hawk, as best as I can identify from pictures... and he hunts in our yard. Most of the time he seems to catch the hapless mourning doves who are slow to respond to his presence or the finches, whom he confuses and makes to fly toward the house where he can more easily grab them. Several times this winter he has posed on top of the feeder after a satisfying hunt, but not long enough for me to grab the camera. He did capture a red-winged blackbird a year or so ago and sat posing with his prey for quite some time. I appreciated his patience as I snapped off several pictures. I've wondered why the hawk doesn't manage to catch more blackbirds... I would welcome him catching more blackbirds.. at least the common kind. Perhaps having a watch bird staked out at the roofline gives them the upper hand. Hmmm... that's a thought.

Completely off the bird thought. Have you seen the intricate silhouettes in black that were popular in colonial times... most homes had at least one hung on the wall. Some are simply outlines of a loved ones head, while others show complete scenes and have delicate lace-like cuttings with minute details. Before cameras, if you wanted a keepsake or picture of your child or husband or wife, you had to draw one yourself or pay for an artist to do a full painting. Even if you could keep your subject still long enough for the artist to do the painting, the price was usually prohibitive. A silhouette was a quick and inexpensive way to go as you simply needed the paper and a light source to make the shadow.

My mother was a teacher all her life. I remember that for Mother's Day, she often had her children stand in front of a light and she would trace the outline of their shadow and carefully label them. She spent hours at home cutting these out and then helped the children paste them onto a white background... as a present for mom. There must be a box around here with one of Stephen and myself as well... we were always the guinea pigs when she was figuring the distance the light and child had to be from the backboards to get the right size of silhouette. Mothers loved them. It makes me a little sad that I do not have one of Nyssa.. I never thought about it while she was growing up and neither did any of her teachers. OK, Nyssa, if you read this... make me one for Mother's Day... you can find instructions on the internet...

OK, so I rambled today... it is a rambling sort of day... needed every once in a while.

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Saturday Photo Hunt ~ Silhouette(s)