The Iow Review Volume 3 Issue 3 Summer Article 33 1972 Birds John O'Brien Follow this dditionl works t: http://ir.uiow.edu/iowreview Prt of the Cretive Writing Commons Recommended Cittion O'Brien, John. "Birds." The Iow Review 3.3 (1972): 59-67. Web. Avilble t: http://ir.uiow.edu/iowreview/vol3/iss3/33 This Contents is brought to you for free open ccess by Iow Reserch Online. It hs been ccepted for inclusion in The Iow Review by n uthorized dministrtor of Iow Reserch Online. For more informtion, plese contct lib-ir@uiow.edu.
Birds John O'Brien In the wintertime I used to throw bred out on the snow for birds while I wited in the bck shed with my ct. I would hold the ct on my lp we both would wtch s the birds led. The ct would get ll tense, its til flip ping bck forth. Then when there were enough birds, I would let the ct go it would rush out the door. We never cught ny birds tht wy. My older sister bought blue green prkeet once. Sid she ws going to tech it to tlk. It never lerned single word, but it used to mutter to itself ll the time. It would mutter itself into n outrge end up squwking screeching till someone bnged on the cge or threw something. At dinnertime my fther threw spoons butter knives. We hted tht bird. Then it took to pulling its fethers out in short time it ws nked except for the fethers it could not rech round its hed. It ws n wful sight. One time, when my sister ws clening the cge, it got out rn ll round the house. When I finlly cught the bird, it bit my thumb I squeezed the life out of it. Route 70 is stright flt s it cuts through the Midwest. Once in Jnury I ws hitch-hiking just outside of Knss City. I ws stuck for over n hour in the sme spot it ws dmn cold. I hd my collr turned up, but the wind cme down my bck nywy. It ws just bout dusk when I noticed sprrow perched on the power wire beside the rod. I ws on sitting my suitcse s the wtching bird flew from the wire to the rod bck to the wire gin. It did this over over. I wlked down to where the bird ws ling found wht it ws fter. From tire flttened mnure it ws picking grss seeds. A gng of us went to the Phildelphi Zoo one spring fternoon mnged to entice two pigeons close enough to ctch. We tied the wings down on one threw it to n lligtor. The lligtor ignored it the pigeon drowned. We let the other one loose in the Hon house. It ws just before feeding time the bird flew bck forth ner the cges, driving the big cts wild. 59 Fiction University of Iow is collborting with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, extend ccess to The Iow Review www.jstor.org
My grfther hd trellis in his bckyrd tht ws covered with morning In the cool when the blue flowers were glories. mornings evenings open, the hummingbirds would come to drink the nectr. They would hover in the ir dip their long, thin bills into the flowers. Once or twice summer my grfther would snek the bottle of sweet pech bry from the cupbord below the sink. He would pour it into te cup so tht grmother wouldn't notice some of it he would eye drop into the morning glories. We would wtch from the bck s porch the birds got drunk fell to the ground. They would flop struggle round looking cock-eyed. Grfther would let me keep them s long s they were drunk, but when they sobered up, I hd to let them go. On Route 70 gin, I sw crow, blck s blck with crow importnce, t the rod edge. In between crs rushing it would strut out pick t the body of snke. A blck silor with rolling wlk, fethered morticin doing his work. Pigeons nested in Old St. Clement's Church for s s long it ws there. In the evenings you could lwys see them settling onto the eves ledges. I remem ber one of them got into the church during old Fther Riley's funerl mss. I ws in second grde s the bird flew bck forth, trying to find wy out, I thought it ws Fther Riley's soul. A little fter tht they tore the old church down. The dy the steeple fell ll the pigeons left. Tht evening they cme bck wheeled circled over the ruins, looking for the roost. I've cught two birds with fishing rod. One summer night I ws fishing with my grfther. We were drifting down the Cpon River in cnoe, plugging for bss. I got my plug hung up on the bnk ws jerking t it when smll owl swooped down from tree grbbed it. We pddled to shore found the owl hooked to the plug. It kept trying to bite or clw when we tried to turn it loose. Finlly we just cut the Une let it fly wy wih the plug hooked to its foot. The second bird I cught delibertely. I threw hrd corn into the bckyrd round kernel tied one end of my monofilment fishing line. I wited in the shed with the rod. cme Strlings te the corn. When bird took the kernel with the line tied to it, I let it swllow, then reeled in the slck. I cme out of the shed ll the birds flew wy except the one I hd cught. It flut tered round under the cherry tree, trying to bite the string. I reeled it in. After snowstorm I wtched strlings l on power wire. There must hve been hundreds of them. The wire begn to sg under the growing weight until it touched the one below it. There ws crcking sound smell of burnt flesh fethers. All the birds fell off into the snow. The strling ws n originlly English bird. An Englishmn who cme to Americ brought few dozen with him. He liked the bird mostly becuse it wlked rther 60
thn hopped like other birds. The first few dozen were relesed never seen A or so gin. yer lter the sme mn few more dozen over. He brought relly liked those strlings. The second group disppered lso it seemed tht they would not just tke. Then fter few yers there were pssed, reports from frmers bout flocks of strnge birds fruit. were From destroying They strlings. tht time the birds grew grew in numbers took to the cities. Now, of course, they're problem. In Phildelphi they would come into Center City ech dy t dusk settle on the ledges of City Hll. There they would screech whistle leve droppings ll over. The people tried everything. They put poison out, but then the song birds strted to die too. They put some kind of sticky goo on the ledges tht didn't work. Finlly they got recording of strling's distress cry brodcst it over loudspekers. This worked fine for s s long the cry ws brodcst, but s soon s it the birds cme bck. The record ws s stopped, bd s the birds so they gve it up. At the est entrnce to the Wnnmker's Phildelphi Store, there ws n rch in the center of the rch lrge bronze egle. It becme trdition to meet friends or lovers there. On lmost ny dy you could see people witing for some one under the To meet "under the ws romntic I used egle. egle" thing it s ploy with every girlfriend. The Presbyterin Church on Greenwy Avenue ws covered with pigeons' nests droppings. It ws beutiful old stone church with shrp sloping roof fine tll bell tower. It ws shme for the pigeons to be mking such mess of it. Someone cme up with this ide. Plstic owls were bought from the sporting goods store on posted the ledges. One ws even put on top of the cross gilt t the very pek of the bell tower. It worked. For the first few dys, the pigeons circled circled, but would not l. Then they left for good. On Sundys I used to go to plce "The Sugr Bowl" right cross the street from the church. I went there to the I would wtch the ply pinbll. good Presbyter ins out into church under the coming going stedy gze of ll those owls. On South Phildelphi's Street, in the open mrket, there ws poultry shop with cges cges of fowls. They were stcked on the sidewlk inside the shop. The white chickens lwys clucked picked t their own droppings. The ducks st quietly the geese rched their long necks out between the slts of the cges, mde soft oboe sounds, looked so mournful. There would lwys be ft mn sting in the shop doorwy bsently smoking cigrette, his eyes hlf closed. He wore dirty blood-stined pron looked bored. In the morn ing the pron ws white clen, but by middy it ws lwys bloodstined. The Itlin ldies cme to the mrket with their strw crrying bgs, fter inspecting ll the cges, would pick the bird they wnted. Sometimes they would rech in pinch the chicken's leg, just to be sure. Usully they picked chick ens, but sometimes before would tke duck or holidys, they mybe goose. The mn would rech in, pick the selected bird, then csully wring its neck. He 61 Fiction
would hve his cigrette pinched between his lips would tlk s the chicken struggled in his hs. "Yeh, Mrs. Rosnn, I in't seen you for month. How's the bck?" Then he would go into the shop with the bird still jerking round butcher it. On down the block there ws the met shop with got bodies hnging from the lmp post live rbbits in the window. On the other side of the street ws the fish mn's store with live crp in wsh tubs on the sidewlk piles of ded squid on shved ice. On my first visit to New York I went to Centrl Prk with my older sister. We wlked round, then st down on bench. There ws womn on the sitting bench just cross from us. She hd boy with her who ws mongoloid. His hed ws very lrge round. The womn put popcorn on his shoulders hed told him to hold very still. The pigeons cme st on his hed shoulders he would begin to giggle lugh till he shook ll the birds flew wy. They did this over over. Just s we left, the boy tilted his hed bck howled, "Light, light. The light is flling, Mm." I hdn't been in Phildelphi for over two yers I cme bck went to the "Sugr Bowl" to ply the pin bll. Henry, the ft owner still rn the plce. I looked cross the street to the Presbyterin Church noticed tht the owls were gone. 1 sked Henry bout it. He looked thoughtful for while. "Oh yeh," he sid. "Them owls. Now I remember. Yeh, they hd them owls to keep the pigeons off. Well, it worked for while, but then the crows strted." "Crows?" I sid. "Yeh, crows come by one dy strted fighting with them owls. Put up n wful rcket. Remember tht one on the top? On the cross, y know." "Yeh," I sid. "Well, them crows knocked hell out of it. Knocked it right off. Fell through sky light or something." He went to wit on kid who cme in. Then he cme bck. "It's funny bout them crows. Never seen them round here till the they put owls up. They showed up once, then didn't come bck for few dys. Then they come every dy rel erly in the morning, just s I ws opening up. They used to sit in them trees in the grveyrd. Could her urn clling like they ws hving meeting or something. Then they'd ll tke off ttck. Just knocked hell out of them owls. Finlly they took urn down. Now they got pigeons gin." On the second dy of our trip to Alsk, the genertor burned out we hd to in stop Indin. It ws truck stop the mechnic hd few crs hed plce of us so we hd to wit in the cfe. We st drnk coffee next to window. A semi-truck pulled up to the fuel pumps s it did, lrge gry ct cme out from under the lst booth pushed the screen door open went out to the truck. It stood up on its hind legs peered into the truck's grill. Then it got down cme bck inside. A bit lter the ct did it gin, but this time it 62
reched into the grill of nother truck deftly pulled ded bird out. Then it crried it off behind the cfe. We wtched it inspect every cr truck tht cme in. The witress told us it hd been doing it for yers. She sid tht the semi's often rn into birds got them cught in their grills tht they didn't hve to feed the ct very much. The ct hd it down to system she sid. In Nebrsk we picked up n old mn who ws hitchhiking. It ws erly in the morning the doves were on both sides of the rod, pecking t the grvel. They would fly s we pssed them. I thought the old guy ws drunk becuse he hd yellow eyes red fce, but he sid he hd religion. He ws prech er, though he didn't hve church. He used to hunt those doves, he told us, but tht ws before he ws born gin. Anybody who red the Bible couldn't kill doves becuse they were God's specil birds. He sid tht the ride we gve him ws surely blessing tht it ws fine morning tht those doves used to tste wful good. We cmped right outside of Anchorge for week on the fourth dy cll for men to fight forest fire cme over the rdio. I signed up went with bout twenty other guys in truck to the fire. There were two ntive men in the truck. They thought the whole ide ws fun. One of them sid tht ntive people sometimes strted fires so they could mke the $2.50 n hour putting them out. When we got to the fire, they gve me shovel told me to strt digging trench. We could see the fire cross It ws vlley. towrd us. When moving it got in the vlley, we strted to feel the het. I wtched line of crows flying towrd us. When they flew over the vlley, they fell one by one into the fire. We lived for yer on smll isl bout one hundred miles off the cost of Alsk. In the fll the ducks would come pst stop in the bys lgoons to rest s mde their they wy south. There were two ner us when lgoons the wether ws relly bd, the ducks would fill both of them. There were golden eyes, old squws, mllrds, se sometimes snow quil geese Brnt's geese. The ntive men would tke two fishing bots, one to ech lgoon, ll the ducks would fly to the other there more would be killed. On the dys when the wether ws relly bd the ducks couldn't fly very fr, they would get them going bck forth from plce to plce till hundreds were killed. We herd story bout the Eskimos wy up north. It seemed tht new gme lws bout ducks geese were pssed, limiting the number of birds pre scribing legl seson. Tht ws the first yer it ws in effect mn from villge killed two geese out of seson ws rrested. He didn't hve ny money so ws tken in town. Two jiled nerby dys lter ll the men from the villge cme to town bringing hundreds of ded ducks geese. They piled them up in the street in front of the jil just wited there. I never herd the end of the story. 63 Fiction
The old people on the isl were superstitious told stories bout n egle with tringulr eyes. It ws very bd sign no one lthough hd relly seen it, they believed. There were other things too, like cross fox tht wlked on its hind phses legs of the moon. mn-sized octopus tht stood on top of the wter t certin In the winter, fog bnks low clouds would cover the isl so tht the mil couldn't to us. plne get There ws one time when we didn't see the sun or sky for over two weeks. There were three dys of constnt rin on the lst dy delicte, long billed bird fell onto the school plyground. The children gthered ll round wtched it try to st up. One of the older boys went to get the techer. He cme out took the bird. The people in the villge hd never seen bird like it they knew ll the birds for hundreds of miles. They finlly de cided tht it ws some kind of strnge thing blown wy from its norml rnge by the storm. The techer kept it in box by his kitchen stove. He tried to feed it everything: worms, bred, met, fish. But it would et nothing. The our ntionl egle, bird, is scvenger. We would often come cross one feeding on ded sel or fish on the bech. It ws lso one of the first birds to mte in the spring. There ws strnge mting hbit with the mle chsing the femle for miles until he finlly cught her. The ntives sid they mted in mid ir, but I cn't see how tht could be. A lot of se birds come bck in the spring. There ws one bird, puffin or se prrot, which ws blck with touches of white yellow red on the wings the thick, hevy bek of prrot. They swm like ducks fed on the schools of cle fish when they found good school would gorge them selves till their bellies swelled they couldn't get off the wter. They were tunneling birds dug their nests in the smll isls or on se cliffs. When they cme bck, there would be hundreds of them floting on the by. The ntive children would tke their out row round fter the dinghies birds trying to hit them with the ors. When the children got close, the puffins would flp like md skip cross the top of the wter, their bellies drgging them down. When bot finlly cught up with one, the bird would duck under, then bob to the surfce yrds wy. One dy the kids stunned one brought it bck to shore. They plucked some til fethers out the bird squwked tried to bite. "He don't like dt," one of the kids sid, giving the bird humn pronoun the wy they did with most nimls. "Dt mkes him md." They plucked few more fethers out. Then one boy, Big Arnie's son, got creless the puffin clmped onto finger, leving the very tip hnging by thred of skin. Everyone lughed, even Big Arnie's boy. He jerked the tip of his finger off held it up for everyone to see then threw it into the sl monberry bushes. Then he felt the to screm. He rn home. pin begn A few minutes lter he cme bck got down on his hs knees, 64
whimpering to himself, serching drunk told him to go find it. in the bushes for his finger. Big Arnie ws When spring relly strted, the ntives would go to the smll stone isls look for gull's eggs. They were s s good hen's eggs, they sid lrger too. To find the first gull's egg ws big thing with them. Long before nesting they would check the isls. One dy Ul I were sing his bot, getting it redy for slmon fishing, when he decided to tke me egg hunting. We took the skiff bottle of hundred proof Vodk to specil plce he knew, two smll isls right next to one nother just off the north end of our isl. It took n hour to get there Ul drnk hlf the Vodk by then. As we pproched the plce, he told me the Aleut word, whole series of sounds tht mde one nme. strnge gutterl up The nme ment "A mn climbed up here once" or t lest tht's how Ul trns lted it. He sid it ws lwys the first plce to hve gull's eggs, but it ws hrd to get to becuse there were steep cliffs on every side. He ws too drunk to climb so told me to go. He wited in the skiff, rocking in the surf, tking swigs from the bottle. He wtched me climb. Ner the top there ws ptch of yellow dirt tht ws filled with puffin tun nels. I ws holding on s best I could, flt on my stomch, finger tips dug into the dirt. A puffin burst from hole right in front of my fce. It hit me on the forehed I slid down to the edge of the cliff brely mnged to stop myself. Ul st in the bot with his h over his eyes. "I'm ll right," I shouted down Ul looked up smiled. He took long pull on the bottle. Once I mde the top, I wlked round through the high yellow grss. I could see where the hd mde gulls nests, but there weren't ny eggs. I crossed re crossed the top of the isl. The gulls flew over me crying screeching be cuse I hd disturbed their nests. Finlly I found two eggs on stone ledge tht stuck out over the se. The eggs were brownish green still felt wrm. I took my shirt off mde sck by tying the sleeves together. Then I mde my wy bck down crrying the shirt in my teeth. "You got some," Ul sid, me on the bck. "You slpping got the first ones." He gve me drink of Vodk. "Tht se prrot could hve killed you, mn. I thought it ws the end of you. Wht could I tell them bck t the villge, eh? My friend killed by se prrot." We went bck to the villge when we climbed up on the dock, Ul begn "We shouting, got them. We got the first ones." He ws relly drunk by then. Flor, the fttest womn on the isl, ws t the end of the dock. She wited for us to get there. "My friend got the first egg." He took one from my shirt. "See, see, the first one." Flor slpped his h, mking the egg fll to the dock brek. "A white mn," she sid sneered. Ul's bot ws clled the "Grizzly II" by the end of My, we hd strted 65 Fiction
commercil fishing. At tht time of yer, the slmon run hd just strted it relly didn't py to fish hrd so we just sort of scouted round. One Sundy we nchored up in Dnger By hd nothing to do so Ul I took the skiff to se cliff mile or so wy. The cliff ws covered with gulls kitty wkes' nests there were young birds in lmost every nest. As we pproched, ll the dult birds took off begn circling screming. We got right up next to the cliff looked into the nests, finding mostly nked or downy fledg lings. It ws odd how the birds rected. The smll nked ones would feign deth no mtter how you turned them, they would flop bck over on their bcks ly still. The birds with down would screm screm when you picked them up the ones biggest with pin fethers would try to bite. We took one of the lrgest ones, thinking we could mke pet of it. It took to the bot right wy would wlk up down the deck with nturl silor's roll. We kept it for the rest of the seson, clling it Silor becuse it ws white blck wlked like one. We fed it strips of slmon food scrps. When we were hul ing in the nets the decks were busy dngerous, it would sit on top of the cbin wtch. At the end of the seson we hd to get rid of it. It ws mture bird by then. I took it to the end of the dock dropped it off. It fluttered down to the wter swm round round the pilings would not go out very fr. Then it swm to the bech strted to follow womn. I took it bck to the end of the dock dropped it into the wter gin, but it just went bck to the bech followed someone else. It ws just too used to people I guess. I took it out in the skiff let it go hlf mile wy. An hour or so fter tht I ws t my window looking out over the by. There ws crowd of ntive children on the bech. Two girls held the bird by the wings while dog jumped snpped t it. The girls rn down the bech, holding the bird out s if to mke it fly. Then they gve it to the dog. One evening the crew st on the deck of the "Grizzly II" witing for supper smoking cigrette fter long hrd dy. We hd fished from dwn till five hd the hold filled with fish. I ws clening two slmon to hng on the mst mke umduc. The gulls on one of the smll isls got very excited took to the ir. They squwked circled in the ir. We brely pid ttention becuse were gulls silly birds, excited over one or lwys nother. getting thing They quieted down, but fter bit strted up gin. After the third or fourth time we strted wtching. An egle took off from shore, circled round the isl, then led, took bby gull from nest, then took it bck to shore. It would ter the bird to shreds on the bech et it. Ul went into the cbin got the field glsses we wtched it through them for while. The fishermen never liked the egle becuse they believed the bird killed slmon. Besides, it ws n Americn bird they weren't Americn. Ul took the skiff his rifle down close shot the egle. He cme bck wving it over his hed shout ing, "Look t Mr. Big now. Look t this big shot." The bird ws immense with wing spn well over five feet. Its feet were 66
s lrge s mn's h with wicked tlons.? cut the feet off kept them. I still hve them in little box in my dresser. Once when duck hunting from the shore of our isl, I shot kittywke out of boredom spite. It fell in the surf lid there white ded gently swying with the wve surge. Another kittywke, its mte, circled bove clling to the downed bird. It led in the wter beside it seemed content to sit by the body. I hven't killed nything since then. We left the isl by mil plne. Flying over the wter, we sw gulls like white puffs on the wter crossed over n egle too. The shdow of the egle swm on the wter. 67 Fiction