dump birds
January 21st, 2007 by Flores
Probably some of my favorite aspects about hauling are the images we get to see daily that typical jobs just don’t allow their employees to see. Above is what I like to call the flight of the dump birds. All those tiny black things are actually birds and represent only about a third of the birds that hang out at the dump, picking at the loose garbage. When you drive up to dump there seem to be a wall of tiny black birds just watching you go about your day, kind of creepy sometimes.
Flores just informed me that he was drunk last night when he wrote this post. Surprisingly coherent, Flores.
Those black birds are probably starlings, known for the beautiful metallic sheen they get in springtime and their incredibly versatile and original - not just mimetic - ’singing’. (I once had a flock that loitered outside my bedroom window.) Seagulls and vultures also have a strong presence at dumps near Anytown.
One thing I like to think about is that since not all these birds are migratory (I don’t think?) there must be some birds that have spent their entire life living at the dump. What a strange worldview they must have.