All across south Florida large flocks of ibis, like their cousins around the world, come home at sunset to nest in the same trees. During the night they stay low on the branches, hidden from hawks and other predators. But as dawn approaches they move ever higher in the trees until finally, backlit by the pale pearl wash of imminent sunrise they appear as silhouettes perched on impossibly thin branches.
When the sun crosses the horizon and the light is at just the right spot, and only they know when that is, the birds lift their ungainly selves into the air and fly together in a single direction. Usually one bird jumps into flight and within seconds, dozens or hundreds are right behind it.
They are going to feed but who knows how they decide which way all of them are going to go each day? Do they return to where they were the day before and slowly work their way across the landscape or, what?
The ancient Egyptians fashioned their god, Thoth after the ibis. Thoth was responsible for writing, mathematics, measurement, the moon, magic and time. As if proving the Egyptians were right, the ibis still knows the exact moment to begin and end the day.
Photo by guest blogger Sue Harrison, taken in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.