I can Bird from my office, can you Ski in yours?

I’ve had loads of critters fly past my downtown office window: Peregrine Falcons, Sandhill Cranes, Cooper’s Hawks, bats, butterflies, and what not. It is a fact, I can’t even keep my rosey flowered Gloxinia or Geraniums on the windowsill because hummingbirds do not think 9 or 10 floors is too high to fly for a chance of nectar slurping. One of my favorite fly-bys are flying cigars, called White-throated Swifts.

Sixteen Swifts like flecks against the sky
Today my boss came into my cubicle, and when I swung around to speak to him I saw some 30 or 40 White-throated Swifts bulleting past my window. If there had been no glass between the birds and I, I could have netted one. So while I chatted with my supervisor I was hard pressed to get my eyes off the birdies - I felt like a cat at a goldfish bowl. Even my boss who doesn't get the 'birding' thing, commented on the birds. Myself, being a nature-nerd, corrected his identification of the birds as swallows - close but no cigar - flying cigars that is.

Then my boss left and I had a happy five minutes, enthralled, trying for a clear shot of one of birds with my dinky Canon sureshot – no such luck. Oh well, how many people can engage in their very favorite activity in their office without getting injured, fired, or arrested?


Swifts mirror each other's flight
Can just eek out the top bird's white collar
A bit far off, but nice silhouettes
Yes, not the best White-throated Swift shots, but my office windows are filthy and those birds fly like UFOs. Some day I'll get the perfect swift shot, just not today.