A Ride in the Sky (#127)

What would you choose for a superpower? To me, it’s an easy choice. Plus: Week 3 for #SciArtSeptember.

Stopping by in Salisbury for a snack before continuing the migration south, eventually to settle in the southern US or Mexico for the winter, the Nashville Warbler is bird #145 on my life list. Oh, to be able to fly away to new lands so easily. (Photo: Bryn Robinson, 2024)

It would come as no surprise to you, my friends, that, if I could have a fantastical super power, it would be to fly.

Forget super strength or running faster than a speeding bullet or peering through walls with X-ray vision or having a cloak of invisibility.

Me? I want to soar.

I want to launch myself from a safe perch in the trees towards the closest tuft of cloud. Not from the faded seats of an airport departure lounge.

A Great Tit in Killiecrankie, Scotland, this summer. Very similar in size and cheekiness to New Brunswick’s official bird (and another tit), the Black-Capped Chickadee. (Photo: Bryn Robinson, 2024)

As I crest higher and higher, I want to push my frame to the limits of its’ hollow bone engineering, until I come to the top of the incline and feel that brief pause. In that split second, I’d look around and marvel at the lands below.

One of many photos I took of indignant, boisterous Jackdaws in Scotland. Although we have crows and ravens in North America, they don’t sound as darling conversing with each other. (Photo: Bryn Robinson, 2024)

Scouring the land for supper, a Common Buzzard perches atop a telephone pole on the Isle of Lismore (Photo: Bryn Robinson, 2024)

A Grey Catbird jumps out of coverage to nervously eye the host of birders trying to spy an entirely different species. (Photo: Bryn Robinson, 2024)

I want to then feel the feathery plunge in my gut as I begin to return to Earth, my stomach taking an extra second to catch up to my falling body. I’d feel speed, I’d see great distances, my body would blur to nearly empty space. Then, I’d settle back down on the ground - before doing it all over again.

An Eurasian Moorhen in Perth, Scotland, to match the one I only just added to my life list back home a month earlier in Salisbury. (Photo: Bryn Robinson, 2024)

Along the Coral Beach in Claigan, Scotland, we spied among the turmeric rocks an Isabelline Wheatear. (Photo: Bryn Robinson, 2024)

Of course, once I fuel up for the next flight.

Every flight needs the complimentary peanuts.

A Blue Tit considers the best peanut for his mid-morning snack in Killiecrankie, Scotland. (Photo: Bryn Robinson, 2024)

---

This Week in SciArt

The theme for Week 3 of #SciArtSeptember is “Fantasy”. Continuing with the sketches of fake advertisements, my mind went not to birds - weird, I know - but to unicorns. (And, Dad jokes.)

My pen and pencil crayon sketch of a geometric unicorn in my brown Kraft paper sketchbook.

To catch up with the previous weeks:

• Week 1: Horror

• Week 2: Science Fiction

---