Out of the Turmoil

As I was leaving the Wal-Mart parking lot today, I had an interesting experience.  In the parking lot drive lane, there was a common grackle eating something on the parking lot. I approached slowly, in my vehicle,  but the bird did not move... I aimed my passage over the bird, and as I progressed, the bird seemed to stay on the spot.

I was concerned about the bird, but it did not appear to react to my driving over it (I did try to "miss" the bird's body.)  In my rear view mirror, the bird was still there. 


If you are not aware, grackles have been introduced from Europe. If you see stylized European illustrations, you may see a gracious bird with multiple colors.  Well, great-tailed, boat-tailed and common grackles are very gracious birds.  Their very black feathers are iridescent.  Their posture is preening and self absorbent...

But they are pest birds now in this part of the world....

Having said that,  I would not try to hurt a grackle in the Wal-Mart parking lot..I would be concerned that the grackle is so acclimated to human vehicular travel that it would not move when a vehicle is bearing down on it.

The bird was still alive when I drove on.

The grackle did not worry about his safety... He just went about doing what he does... He was not concerned about the turmoil about him... What lesson in life is there for me in this.


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