The reality was a herring gull - one of the BIG ones, (this looks more like an ordinary seagull) - and a very cross crow.
Both had been sitting atop the house out the back, watching our backyard for the food to get lobbed onto the frosty grass. Two more crows were sitting in the gingko tree at the top of the garden.
Herring gull swooped, and was just extending its landing gear when the 'house top' crow appeared out of nowhere, in vertical dive mode, aiming for the middle of the gull's back. Either gulls have eyes in the backs of their heads or it felt the air pressure of the 'incoming', retracted the landing gear, pulled up sharply and twisted away over the fence and off in the direction of the college.
The current generation of crows seldom see off the gulls so that particular gull must have displayed an especially objectionable strut on the housetop before launch to wind the crow up into driving it off like that.
"I'll show you who's really top aviator around here".
Hari OM
ReplyDeleteExcellent sketch skillz - proportion is not what matters here, but the sense of movement and a moment captured! YAM xx
Oh me I have flash backs of going to see The Birds an Alfred Hitchcock movie.
ReplyDeleteHugs Cecilia
Time to retire the expression "bird brained".
ReplyDeleteThat's entertainment.
ReplyDeleteWell done the crows! Great sketch, by the way.
ReplyDeleteThe crows mob the buzzards round here. They're fearless. Arilx
ReplyDeleteWe have red kites near here and I've seen the crows chase them off.
DeleteYou can really sketch.
ReplyDeletethe sketch is great, if i did it you would not tell the crow from the gull. we watched the purple grackles, that look like black birds, dive on the 20 times larger than they were, Owl in our tree. they were screaming and diving and he sat there cool as a cucumber, turning his head and watching. we think he was sizing up which one to grab and eat. I am happy to say that yesterday we saw 2 buzzards/vultures floating over the back yard. they have always been here, we knew when somthing died, just watch for them. they have been gone for more than a year. not one have we seen. we need them to clean up the road kill.
ReplyDeleteabout your comment today, Bob and I have used this quote many times over the years.
Hate for someone is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die.
other words can and have been used, like anger, resentment.....
A good sketch!
ReplyDeleteOne neighbour has racing pigeons and the exercising "peloton" did a low pass over a gull on a house ridge, from the rear..he ducked!
Getting their own back I think!!
Excellent sketch; it really captures the moment you describe.
ReplyDelete