The world is a mask that hides the real world.
Thatâs what everybody suspects, though the world we see wonât let us dwell on it long.
The world has ways - more masks - of getting our attention.
The suspicion sneaks in now and again, between the cracks of everyday existenceâ¦the bird song dips, rises, dips, trails off into blue sky silence before the note that would reveal the shape of a melody that, somehow, would tie everything together, on the verge of unmasking the hidden armature that frames this sky, this tree, this bird, this quivering green leaf, jewels in a crown.â¦
As the song dies, the secret withdraws.
The tree is a mask.
The sky is a mask.
The quivering green leaf is a mask.
The song is a mask.
The singing bird is a mask.
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
fledglings fly!
Falcon chicks have flown the coop
First of three girls took to the skies over the weekend
by Sue Lowe, South Bend Tribune, 7 June 2005
First of three girls took to the skies over the weekend
by Sue Lowe, South Bend Tribune, 7 June 2005
SOUTH BEND -- All three young peregrine falcons hatched in downtown South Bend were flying around by Monday morning.
Their human friends are watching their antics from the ground, hopeful that the youngsters will stay out of trouble.
"The first one at least seems to be doing well," said Carole Riewe, a raptor rehabilitator and ardent falcon watcher. "Keep your fingers crossed."
All three falcons who lived to leave the nest last summer either flew into buildings or wound up on the ground.
As of 1 p.m. Monday, all of this year's batch seen were sitting on various buildings.
One of the trio of female chicks flew Saturday.
The chick has been nicknamed Amelia because she appears to be getting around pretty well.
She spent most of Sunday sitting on the fifth-floor roof of the County-City Building.
Riewe said people observing her shooed her from there because she was sitting where the parents couldn't see her.
On Monday she made it to the top of the City Center Building before moving to the top of the County-City Building.
"She does things in stages," Riewe said. "And there's a good gliding wind today."
Riewe said one of the other chicks was on the fire escape on the back of the JMS Building.
The third one had hopped from the nest on the 12th-floor ledge of the Tower Building to the 11th-floor ledge.
Riewe said she had flapped her wings but hadn't taken a longer flight before 1 p.m.
There are 10 known peregrine falcon nests in Indiana this year.
Falcon rescue numbers
Here are the telephone numbers to call if you should find a young peregrine falcon on the ground in downtown South Bend.
Call anytime: (574) 532-2470 or (574) 208-4296.
Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., call (574) 315-9002.
And just in case you don't get anybody there, try:
Animal Control at (574) 235-9303 or South Bend police at (574) 235-9361.
