Black Birds with Glossy Plummage

These have been the rainiest Spring and Summer in my memory. It was raining most of last night. I went for a walk this morning on a lake near the house. It is Saturday and was relatively early for Saturdays. No one was stirring yet. The backs of many houses in the area surround the lake. I was in the midst of soothing serenity when on my second round, I saw a jet black bird flapping its wings on the opposite shore of the lake. It had glossy black plummage. It will flap vigorously and stop eagle-spread, as if strutting its plummage, for a short while and start flapping again. I thought either it is drying off the rain from the night or it is strengthening its wings for a flight or it is admiring the reflection of its plummage in the lake. The bird had a palpable swagger in its routine. It was quite amusing.

(It reminded me of a story of a moose admiring its crownlike antlers but detesting its strong and skinny but ugly legs in a reflection. The fable is from Panch-Tantra-Katha-Mukham, Word of Mouth Stories. When a hunter chases the moose, it is the antlers which get him tangled in thickets while the ugly legs carry him far from the hunter.)

Whether it was an Egret, a Heron or a Crane I could not tell. It continued to flap and strut alternately for at least five to seven minutes. Now I realized that there was another bird of the same species sitting and watching it right next to it. Suddenly, the first bird took flight and circled the lake twice. Both times it flew very close by me. I could see its yellow to orange beak.  After the second circle it flew away. The second bird still continued to watch and scour the sky. I still do not know what birds they were.

I, then, concluded that it was a mother bird watching over its fledgling strengthening its wings and taking its maiden flight. Perhaps, they are  never to meet again......