Stone the crows

Somewhere around four-and-twenty-thousand black birds were congregating near NW 50th and May right around sunset, some on overhead wires, some clustered on the ground, and many more swooping down out of the drizzle into, if not your face, certainly your path. It wasn't exactly a scene out of Hitchcock, but it certainly looked menacing enough, and during the four minutes I was stopped at Popeye's, half a dozen of them drew a bead on Gwendolyn, who was apparently far too unblack for their liking. Shoppers weren't avoiding Walgreens or Target, but they were keeping their heads down, just in case. Call it evolution in action: these birds are not only unaffected by human encroachment, they're utterly indifferent to it.