knee-high life-and-death struggle
the journal of Michael Werneburg
twenty-seven years and one million words
I saw two sparrows flying low, today. Very low, like knee high! The birds were flying in close proximity to one another, zigging and zagging as if playing a strange game of tag. And they were movnig so slowly they had to beat their wings furiously just to stay airborne. Whatever they were doing had their full attention, too - they didn't mind as I drew nearer.
Then I saw what it was. They were pursuing a beetle. It was a big (for S. Ontario) black thing, and it was giving off a hell of a racket as it ducked and swooped to avoid the birds. The two birds - which were half a wing's span from collision as often as not - seemed to be blocking one another from making the catch. It wasn't until the beetle headed for the shadows under some bushes that the matter was resolved. A bird landed atop the thing and triumphantly flew away with it still buzzing fearfully in its mouth.
A knee-high life-and-death struggle. It was fascinating.