Theognome
May 30th, 2005, 05:50 PM
I wish do describe a scene that I just recently witnessed:
The air was quite still. The parking lot was empty as I looked across it in the middle of a warm spring day. I observed a small white butterfly calmly flitting it's way across the parking lot, and I began to consider it. Minding it's business, looking for a flower it can get a meal from... And there were some flowers nearby along the border of the lot. A beautiful little masterwork, this insect was.
...When suddenly, from across the sky, a fiersome predator arrived. A songbird, in full warfare readiness, had fiercely sung it's battle cry. It's beak gnashing and claws reaching, the songbird's powerful wings buffeted the butterfly as it sought to grasp it's next meal.
In desperation, the butterfly folds it's wings, causing an immediate drop in altitude. While in free-fall, it unfolds, re-orients and makes for the wood fence that it had recently crossed.
The songbird has seen this tactic before. Rather than risk a free-fall, it wheels around like an aerial pirouette of sorts, and made a power dive towards it's hapless prey.
But the butterfly had played this game before, too. It didn't have to out-speed the songbird, just out-maneuver it. By a quick flap of the wings, the butterfly avoids the bird's claws my mere millimeters. But a miss is still a miss, and now the songbird will have to take time to recover, and that time is what the butterfly wants- time to reach safe haven.
Meanwhile, the ferocious predator is a dogged strategist. Knowing the rules of the game, it makes a risky back-flip under full momentum. A suprize move, indeed! But not well executed. Now more time is needed to fully recover, and the prey is getting close to that fence. That fence is the border of the fight- Butterfly reaches it, it wins.
And Butterfly has an unexpected aggressor- the wind! A slight breeze has erased much of the advantage gained through songbird's mistake. But it's too close to turn back now. This is truly do... or die.
With great thrusts against pure sky the songbird regroups for the next attack. It's chest heaving, it now races beak first... BODY SLAM!...
...Butterfly begins to made some good headway, and is distracted by the thoughts of victory... Suddenly, butterfly is struck from behind! it's sent reeling agains't the fence. Dazed, butterfly freefalls a bit, but slowly gets some composure.
Problems for songbird. The rival from next door has seen the commotion, and sees that if butterfly get's away, it's his lunch. Songbird, using the momentum from one bodyslam, now drives straight at this intruder! The two begin to scuffle...
While butterfly flies along the base of the fence, and reaches the flowers beyond.
The air was quite still. The parking lot was empty as I looked across it in the middle of a warm spring day. I observed a small white butterfly calmly flitting it's way across the parking lot, and I began to consider it. Minding it's business, looking for a flower it can get a meal from... And there were some flowers nearby along the border of the lot. A beautiful little masterwork, this insect was.
...When suddenly, from across the sky, a fiersome predator arrived. A songbird, in full warfare readiness, had fiercely sung it's battle cry. It's beak gnashing and claws reaching, the songbird's powerful wings buffeted the butterfly as it sought to grasp it's next meal.
In desperation, the butterfly folds it's wings, causing an immediate drop in altitude. While in free-fall, it unfolds, re-orients and makes for the wood fence that it had recently crossed.
The songbird has seen this tactic before. Rather than risk a free-fall, it wheels around like an aerial pirouette of sorts, and made a power dive towards it's hapless prey.
But the butterfly had played this game before, too. It didn't have to out-speed the songbird, just out-maneuver it. By a quick flap of the wings, the butterfly avoids the bird's claws my mere millimeters. But a miss is still a miss, and now the songbird will have to take time to recover, and that time is what the butterfly wants- time to reach safe haven.
Meanwhile, the ferocious predator is a dogged strategist. Knowing the rules of the game, it makes a risky back-flip under full momentum. A suprize move, indeed! But not well executed. Now more time is needed to fully recover, and the prey is getting close to that fence. That fence is the border of the fight- Butterfly reaches it, it wins.
And Butterfly has an unexpected aggressor- the wind! A slight breeze has erased much of the advantage gained through songbird's mistake. But it's too close to turn back now. This is truly do... or die.
With great thrusts against pure sky the songbird regroups for the next attack. It's chest heaving, it now races beak first... BODY SLAM!...
...Butterfly begins to made some good headway, and is distracted by the thoughts of victory... Suddenly, butterfly is struck from behind! it's sent reeling agains't the fence. Dazed, butterfly freefalls a bit, but slowly gets some composure.
Problems for songbird. The rival from next door has seen the commotion, and sees that if butterfly get's away, it's his lunch. Songbird, using the momentum from one bodyslam, now drives straight at this intruder! The two begin to scuffle...
While butterfly flies along the base of the fence, and reaches the flowers beyond.