On the Wing #1: First Flight
All stories have a beginning and this one begins in my parent's back garden, in a little house called Dinas-Powas in the southeast portion of Wales. I was about four and had gone into the garden to explore and walk Sammy, our Welsh Springer Spaniel for a bit. Having been so long ago, I remember little of the day itself, but I do know that I was wearing wellies and that the sky was its typical stone grey with a few white wisps of cloud. The garden was a typical British one, huge for a four year old, but contained by high garden fences with a border of decorative plant life surrounding the lawn in the middle. The plant border was made up of flowers, small trees, and shrubs that bloomed beautifully in the warmer months and defied the gloom that almost always hung over the Welsh countryside. As I walked around the garden, a small dark shape caught my attention. A Eurasian Blackbird ( Turdus merula ) digging for worms and other invertebrate life in the soil. Its black plumage and cont...