Ornithophobes beware!

Every evening between 7 and 8 o'clock, the sky over Uzes fills with the sight and sound of thousands of black birds who descend on the town and then disappear again until the next night. If you happen to be walking the streets at that time, you can't help but hear them in the trees all around. It's like you're surrounded by the sound of cheering crowds at a rock concert. It wasn't the birds we first noticed though. It was the multiple cracks of what sounded like gunfire that caught our attention about a week ago. We heard the shots and then froze, waiting for the sound of police cars or ambulances that didn't arrive. "Don't worry," I told the kids, "I'm sure there's a logical explanation for it...it can't really be gunfire." The next night we heard the shots again, around roughly the same time and then noticed the black swarm pass by our window and made the connection. "Ohh, the shots are to scare the birds away."

I realize that they (and the poop they leave behind) can be a nuisance to the townspeople, but last night, while sitting in the hallway outside of Tomee's violin lesson, looking out the window, they appeared as a troupe of tiny sky dancers. I couldn't hear them. I could only watch as they swooped and glided through the air, as if they were moving to the sounds of the Brandenburg Concerto resonating from Tomee's violin. It was a moment of pure beauty.

Now I wait for them to make their short appearance every evening so I can watch them do their dance before they're given their cue to leave.