I was sitting in the apartment upstairs at Woodthrush Woods and happily typing away, when the sound of birds became demanding. I turned to look out the window behind the sofa and saw a scene out of Hitchcock. The sky and earth had darkened with birds. They covered the grass like a living sea of feathers. Out every window of the house, the same view of birds, constantly moving and fluttering as if the leaves themselves had come to life. For about fifteen minutes the flock of starlings surrounded our house, scratching every seed or bug out of the ground, taking flight in swarm, and then settling again. I don’t know what signaled them to move on, but they arose in a massive cloud and streamed off to the east.
