Ah, spring in the American Midwest, when our thoughts turn lightly to, um, housecleaning.
The middle of the United States has a reputation for being, well, dull. The writer Mark Twain once noted that he wanted to be in Cincinnati when the world ended because everything happens ten years later there. People living in the middle of the country do seem to have different priorities compared to those living on either coast. The following story is illustrative. Each year on March 19th, St. Joseph's Day, the swallows return from their winter feeding grounds in Argentina to their traditional nesting sites in San Juan Capistrano, California. A few scouts precede the main flock by a few days, but early on the 19th, the birds begin to arrive en masse and start rebuilding their mud nests in the ruins of the Old Mission. Tourists come from around the world to witness 'The Miracle of the Swallows', and the city residents host a Swallow Day Parade and celebrate the Fiesta de las Golondrinas (Festival of the Swallows), with parties, dancing and food. The return of the swallows adds a bit of romance to the coming spring. According to an old superstition, swallows nesting near your house will bring good luck: 'In whatsoever house the swallow breedeth, the goodman of the house is not there made cuckold.' -- Gerard Leigh, Accedendence of Armory (1562) In the Midwest we're a more prosaic lot. The word 'prosaic' here means 'wary of any emotion we suspect makes us look like sissies'. No dainty swallows for us, no sir, we celebrate 'The Miracle of the Buzzards'. Turkey vultures ('buzzards') return each year with almost clocklike precision to Hinckley, Ohio from their winter stomping grounds down south. The traditional 'Buzzard Sunday' celebration takes place annually on the Sunday following March 15th. As with the buzzards, visitors have been returning to witness their arrival since the first Buzzard Sunday in 1957. Pretty they're not, the buzzards. Large birds with a six-foot wingspan, they are a two-toned blackish color with lighter flight feathers. They fly unsteadily, rocking on the air currents and tilting their wings. Unlike most other birds, buzzards lack a syrinx (voice box): their calls are mostly hisses and grunts. Their diet consists mostly of carrion; they usually eat dead raccoons, opossums, skunks, snakes, turtles, frogs and fish. If carrion is not readily available, buzzards have been known to kill small mammals and young birds. (My apologies to anyone who is reading this before breakfast.) Legend has it that the buzzards were first attracted by the tons of refuse and unwanted game left behind in the Great Hinckley Hunt of 1818. However, an old manuscript written by William Coggswell, one of the first white men to set foot in the area in 1810, described an expedition through the Hinckley area, and told of finding the 'vultures of the air' at the gallows at Big Bend of Rocky River around the foot of the ledges where the Wyandots (an indigenous tribe) had allegedly hanged a woman for witchcraft two years before. So the turkey vultures had made their home on Hinckley Ridge long before the white men settled the area. According to the good folks at Cleveland Metroparks, the scavenging buzzards of Hinckley Reservation are an important part of the natural environment of northern Ohio. 'The birds remind us of the once abundant wildlife in north-eastern Ohio, and their return each spring is a celebration of nature as it once was, and will continue to be.' So there you have it. In California, people celebrate the romance of the returning swallow. Around here, we get excited when the 'garbage collectors' show up. Comments are closed.
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