Death Birds -- A Nonfiction Tale Of Horrorwalker Horror
(Herndon, VA.)
I walked outside the front door this morning to take out the trash. I noticed on the street in front of the house that an opossum had obviously been struck by a car during the course of the night. Much to my chagrin, the dead animal was sprawled out right there just off the sidewalk, on the street, near the front yard.
There was blood, internal organs on the outside of the opossum's body and fur around the scene. And there I am, standing over the mess... wondering how to remove the gore. The time was about 12:05 PM and the temperature was about 35 degrees, so there were no flies or smell to consider... but this splattered dead animal needed to be removed from off to the left of the driveway.
I go back inside, gather an old pair of work gloves, my extension work tongs, a black leaf bag and my camera. I then returned to the scene of the carnage. Or I should say, I walked outside the front door, turned toward the street... and I was greeted by this scene out of the horror movie, The Birds!
They were descending like black death magnets attracted to the carrion. I suppose these birds were attracted to the scene by sight. Seven black buzzards swirled down to their feast like leafs blown in on a soft breeze.
They were not afraid of the human with the camera. They didn't pay much attention to me until I got very close. So, I decided on this appropriate distance. And so, I proceeded to watch them devour this dead animal down to fur, bones and skull. Within ten minutes, they were done and squabbling before they flew off into the unknown sky, one by one.
I never noticed these creatures before this day. Now, when I look up into the trees around the area I see one of these birds perched high. They hang around and canvass the area looking for death so that they can swoop down and efficiently clean up the mess. Nature is truly a complex set of rules and deeds.
How much carrion clean up do Death Birds perform on a daily basis? That is a very interesting question. The Horrorwalker World has many mysteries unexplained. How many of these mysteries, including the human ones, have been eaten by these Death Birds? I wonder...
RLJ
2-21-13
