Signs in the Sky

For days now, I've walked outside to a cacophony of birds. They are filling the trees and for random reasons taking to the skies to hover overhead before settling back into the bare, black branches.
Today, as Earl and I headed out for a walk, the neighbor was in his backyard with a hose in his hand.
"Don't spray the dogs," I joked. He dotes on the dogs.
"I'd like to spray those darn birds. Why don't they head south?" the neighbor asked.
Earl said he thought they were grackles, dark birds with spots on their backs.
All along the walk, the birds would land on the grass or in the trees -- chattering and chattering before they shot into the sky again.


I tried over and over to get a photo of the grackles filling in the sky. I missed everytime.

And I didn't think anything about it. I mean, I tried to get a picture, thinking the photo of the birds in the sky might go well with my new novel A Charm of Finches, which is what a flock of finches is called.
I even looked up what a group of grackles is called -- it's a plague of grackles.
But I didn't make the connection that the sole purpose of the bird-filled trees might be to serve as inspiration for my novel. Why didn't I see that they were signs to me? (Do you think that's too self serving?)
The birds are filling the trees and the skies to remind me to keep writing.
It's either that or they're preparing for a remake of the famous Alfred Hitchcock movie.
Oh, I hope they're just here for inspiration.