The Birds

There are some bloody big ravens around here these days. I hear the croaking nearly everyday here at the Big U. They are corvids, a family of birds which include crows, magpies, rooks, jays, jackdaws, et. al. For some reason they fascinate me. I've often wanted to have an army of trained crows and ravens at my command. "The Birds" certainly caused some of this. Still, it wasn't just any bird I wanted at my beck and call. It was ravens. Huge, black, malevolent ravens against whom my enemies would be helpless.

There's a tree here on campus that must be about 60 feet high, and it is raven central. As students and profs and various wandering geeks go back and forth underneath its lower branches, half a dozen to a dozen ravens will be in the upper reaches, squawking and croaking, kind of like the houses of Congress. They're probably arguing about how to divvy up that day's squirrel carcasses or see who gets to terrorize the pigeons on Sproul Plaza.