Return of the Swallows

 

It seems that in the 1600s, an English educator by the name of Charles Morton discovered that swallows were living on the moon. He, like everyone, noticed that the swallows were never around in the winter. He checked their nests, he checked the trees, he even checked the bottoms of ponds in a fruitless search for them. And after all, Francis Godwin had written The Man in the Moone (1638), in which a traveler to the moon met a "race" of birds living there. Morton went so far as to calculate the swallows' journey, stating that they flew at an average speed of 125 miles per hour during the two month long trip. There was no air resistance, and no gravity to burden their flight. Body fat, gained during the summer, sustained them, and they even slept most of the flight anyway.

I wasn't expecting to see them Out There, but Tuesday evening there were great gobs of swallows. I say great gobs, but a group of swallows is more accurately known as a gulp, or a swoop. Apparently there is still plenty to feast on at this end of summer. I guess the twilight hour is prime feeing time - and where did that come from anyway, i swear just last week there was plenty of riding time before sundown. Now it's like, ten miles of dirt and i've got to stop and change my glasses, then turn on the lights when i hit the road another eighth of a mile later.

Ah well, it is what it is, and the evening light can be pretty dramatic, whether or not swallows are swooping around in it. But boy, is it hard to get a decent photo of them.

no swallow in this one, i just like the depth

the fire debris is still blocking the road just to the right. i guess it is not really the fd'd job to clear it away

the big view down over michaelandia

twist, twist

last sun on the very tip of the peak