wilsonhsu 0 Posted April 27, 2004 Grief - Barn Swallows It's a story about the barn swallows... In Taiwan. Saturday in Harbor-South. It's acloudy day. Many barn swallows appeared in Harbor-South, and some ofthem stayed on the street in flocks. Looking at the trucks runningforward and backward on the street, I was worried about them.Suddenly, a big truck passed swiftly in front of me. What left on theground is a little pile of black shadow. I knew some disaster hadhappend ... again. Birds are also quite sentimental. Even thoughthe swallow lying on the ground would no longer budge a bit, anotherone, looked like his family, flew to the side of him, relunctant toaccept the truth ... The third swallow came close to them, seeminglytrying to tell him that the truth couldn't be changed ... But, hescreamed dolorously, demanding his friend to leave ... he would ratherbelieve that the disaster had never happened... Another big truck passed. Strong blast turnedthe dead swallow on the ground. Observing the change of his gesture,the family swallow was inspired and flew immediately back to accompanythe dead swallow ... Accompanying the dead swallow, he shrieked athim, "Get up! Get up!" Unfortunately, the other one could no longerrespond ... Suddenly, the family swallow stepped closer, trying tograb his body and get him up ... However, it's too much a burden for him ... Butstill, he fluttered the wings, again and again ... The dead swallow couldn't respond, even throughhe wanted to .... I believe so ... Another car passed, the family swallow flew upin fright, but came down again immediately after the car had left ... Even though the other swallows told him thatthe efforts were in vain, he didn't give up, hoping against hope thathis family would get up again ... Another truck passed. The body budged a bitbecause of the blast ... The family swallow was inspired again andtried every possible attempt to get him up ... Finally, he used up all the strength he coudpossibly gather ... but still, he couldn't get any response from hisfamily ... All of a sudden, he couldn't bear the sorrow, shrieking athim, "Why don't you get up ?!!!" I couldn't continue the writing. At last, I wasworried that this family swallow, which kept flying up and down whenthe truck passed, would get hurt by the vehicles, so I couldn't helpbut move the dead swallow to the bush on the side of the street,although I knew I shouln't have interfered. The family swallow hoveredin the sky and screamed several times. Finally, he flew away ...accepted the truth These pictures were originally posted on awebsite in Taiwan. http://www.dcview.com.tw/gallery/showmsg.asp?msgid=271976&select=1&posit=132. Link to comment
svkamaraju 0 Posted April 27, 2004 Very moving. Absolutely brilliant capture and documentary. My best wishes to you. Link to comment
wakeforce 2 Posted April 28, 2004 I also agree that this is the best picture of the series. Deserves a place on the Elves table for next POW Link to comment
johnlund 0 Posted April 28, 2004 The photo is fine (perhaps a little dark), but it's the set -- with anthropomorphic narration -- that makes it powerful. Its inspiration for thinking about photo presentations. Nice work. Link to comment
igsman 0 Posted May 24, 2004 Some nice storytelling. Feels almost like a sad fairy-tale for children. I am afraid though the story is much more prosaic than that. The swallows are in the middle of mating and, sadly, the female gets struck by a truck. The male, being in a certain state, referred to by some as "horny" and not realizing what has really happened to his girlfriend, keeps trying to proceed with his amorous sorties until our author decides to interfere and protect the poor feller from his own stupidity. It turns out, they, like us, sometimes don't let the right head think. I must add that you have done an admirable job of photographing the poor things and an even better one of interpreting the event. Speaking of Barn Swallows, they are the ones that got me hooked on birds. There are Barn Swallows all over the world. Link to comment
Guest Guest Posted November 14, 2004 Thanks for the story. A sad but soul touching one. Link to comment
rakesh dhareshwar 0 Posted May 17, 2005 very touching.........u just cant help but feel sorry for them...... Link to comment
rosa_maria_gonz_lez_de____ 0 Posted August 18, 2005 Definitivamente unas tomas impresionantes y que nos cuestionan a los humanos para recuperar los sentimientos de solidaridad para nuestros semejantes gracias por compartir con nosotros esta historia. Link to comment
labuenaluz 0 Posted June 11, 2006 A sequence & presentation that grabs deeply the soul Link to comment
derek_scott 0 Posted July 20, 2006 It is a very sad story, my wife and I cried a tear for this poor family of birds. Link to comment
jay sturdevant 0 Posted February 2, 2007 I'm no Ornithologist, but, while I agree the narrative is touching, it certainly appears to me that the living Swallow is copulating with his dead friend's corpse. I would be interested to hear a non-sentimental bird behaviourist write an evaluation of this scenario. I once read an account by a scientist who witnessed one male duck chase another into a window. The pursuing duck then proceeded to copulate with the dead duck's corpse for six hours, providing fairly compelling evidence that ducks engage in homosexual necrophilia. Things are not always what they seem. Link to comment
clayton_berg 0 Posted February 2, 2007 Well captured. This is what photography is all about, capturing moments in time. Link to comment
sky blue 0 Posted February 3, 2007 I am very impressed with the photos I've seen here. Your documentary is very interesting and somewhat troubling as well. Regards, ~Sky Link to comment
esthervannes 0 Posted February 19, 2007 Sad... It looks though like he is mating with her... :(...at least that's what it looks like when I see alive birds. Sad story anyway and great pictures. Link to comment
naman_gupta 0 Posted April 12, 2007 An ordinary enough looking pic. with an extra ordinary and very moving story. I love animals and are very moved by tragedies like these. I had seen a similar incidence a lot of years ago. A young dog whose mother died in an accident woudnt leave her body,nor did he allowed anyone else to pick it up (it was a local road of our area).He stayed with her body for atleast 2days/night before he was forced to move and the body was moved. If you look a little deeper into animal world, you will instantly realize that the bond between Mother and Child in animal world is equally strong as it is in Our world. Just thought of sharing my views/story with you guys.Thank you. Naman Link to comment
hsp 0 Posted April 12, 2007 they are Very beautiful and effective photo that i can not say anything about them.Regard hamed Link to comment
alex travagli 0 Posted April 12, 2007 Excellent story,great use of potography for documentation.Excellent Alex Link to comment
the chicago 0 Posted April 12, 2007 I feel very sad about this story. The swallow has better heart than a human. We human-being are dried in the modern society. These photos are really touching me. Link to comment
photography by trudy loosm 0 Posted April 12, 2007 this is so good! Sad thing to see, but so good captured! well done! Link to comment
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