THE FULL FORCE SHOCK

ANOTHER ELVIS SIGHTING

April has come and Spring erupts for this half of the globe; those even in cooler climes note the irrepressible budding of the new and the young bursting pollinated feeling in the wind. The soil groaning has given way to sprout and shoot and leaf.
Nature trumps in spades, and early everywhere this year.
Ostara fills her nesting place, Persephone rules and ritual abounds.
Spring Fever. You see the signs everywhere.

Here in Texas we have Grackles; they are like inbred redneck Ravens and no one loves them. They are unwanted. Homely and squawky looking, they congregate in great undesired numbers with their ugly selves.

City officials use dynamite and shotguns to scare them from commercial areas. Mesh drop cloths can be seen hanging suspended from trees in posh parking lots in protection of Beamers and Porsches parked outside upscale salons and such.

They are quite the nuisance, though I doubt they realize it. I am sure that among their Bird-fellows they are proud and trust wholly their Collective Unconscious in total disregard for these busy noisy ugly humans. To a Grackle I imagine we Humans seem to be a dirty and wasteful creature, congregating in great numbers, busy, building, biting, burning and greedy with far too many devices.
They see all the signs.
But still, Grackle has his own Ritual to attend to.

Take note of the males with mud colored feathers all puffed and wings suggestively splayed trying to impress their female counterparts. These homely males imagine themselves handsome birds. They are tireless in their advances, taking on several of the females at any one time. They dance and strut about.

Every Grackle in Tarrant County is makin’ like Elvis Presley in feathers, so showy, so suave, and so confident.
They be All Shook Up, yet I do sense a bit of desperation especially as the season progresses.
It is hard to tell if the females are horrified at this behavior, or if they are just being coy.
I have yet to have any visual confirmation that these tactics have been successful, other than the supreme preponderance of Grackles.....and I am thankful for that.

Perhaps it is best that we only see signs of the workings of this world, and are spared the full force shock of spring.