Odd Experiences: As A Child Versus As An Adult

[catseye]

As a counterpoint to this - the other morning I woke up to hear raspy breathing. I was half asleep and confused, it was daylight outside so I could see there was nobody in the room with me. It stopped almost as I woke, so I was left not knowing what I'd heard.

Until it happened again, later in the day. Some people across the other side of the village green are doing some work on their house and what I'd woken up and heard as breathing was the brief noise of a piece of wood being sawn into. Because of distance and just-waking, it really did sound like breathing!

 

[Sollywos]

When it comes to sightings like this, I'd have to ask how experienced was the friend with general bird life? I've had people shout excitedly to me about the 'pterodactyl' flying over before - it's a heron. But to people who know nothing about birds, the way they fly with their legs trailing, the size of them and the weird noises they make can look very pterodactyl-like.

Yes that was my first thought as well.

 

[Frideswide]

In the first few years of life, more than 1 million new neural connections are formed every second. After this period of rapid proliferation, connections are reduced through a process called pruning,

in terms of neurological baselines for what we perceive and what we think of as normal - autistics don't do the same pruning as NTs. Or it happens to a lesser extent.

I'm now wondering if this is behind what is referred to as our childlike perception of the world. Not childish

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

I've only ever seen a heron flying on one occasion. It was a weird sight indeed.

During the nesting season, when they can be seen carrying twigs/branches in their beaks, they look even more like pterosaurs.

 

[Mr_Hermolle]

When it comes to sightings like this, I'd have to ask how experienced was the friend with general bird life? I've had people shout excitedly to me about the 'pterodactyl' flying over before - it's a heron. But to people who know nothing about birds, the way they fly with their legs trailing, the size of them and the weird noises they make can look very pterodactyl-like.

I dont imagine for a second she saw an actual pterodactl flying over the streets of Bristol. What was interesting was her conviction she had and her complete acceptance at the time that it was normal.

 

[Erinaceus]

Swans are another possibility. They fly with their necks extended rather than hunched up like a heron.
Egrets are also becoming more common and fly with their necks and legs extended.

 

[Spookdaddy]

During the nesting season, when they can be seen carrying twigs/branches in their beaks, they look even more like pterosaurs.

View attachment 66916

That looks like a marabou stork - their bare heads do look remarkably reptilian.

When it comes to sightings like this, I'd have to ask how experienced was the friend with general bird life? I've had people shout excitedly to me about the 'pterodactyl' flying over before - it's a heron. But to people who know nothing about birds, the way they fly with their legs trailing, the size of them and the weird noises they make can look very pterodactyl-like.

I've mentioned elsewhere hearing a woman declare in tones of utmost confidence - to her child's query about the bird standing in the pond in front of them: "It's a pelican darling". It's always amazing to me how many people appear to believe that when they deliberately miseducate their children they are required to do so at the top of their voice.

Herons sometimes roost at height - which can be oddly disconcerting, and the source of more that a few misunderstandings I don't doubt.

Here's one I spotted when I was doing some scaffolding work at the back of my place:

And another, from my local park:

I once saw three roosting at height very close to each other - on an autumn afternoon in the country. Really quite eerie.

 

[Floyd]

What about Canadian geese? We get those flying over quite a bit.

 

[Junopsis]

Oh, you've just reminded me! I used to lie in bed listening to a 'scratchy' sound that would come and go, sounding as though it was under my pillow or on the sheets near my face. Scritch scratch. Then quiet for a few moments, then scritch scratch again. I was terrified. I used to get my parents to come and check the bed and under the pillow - nothing there, I'd get back into bed and...scritch scratch again.

It took years for me to work out that it was my eyelashes making a noise against the cotton pillowcase when I blinked...

I remember being very small; laying in bed, afraid there was some sort of robot downstairs, until I realized I was hearing my heartbeat and not footsteps. The realization was a little embarrassing, even as small as I was. I think being a child must mean being new enough in physical reality that you don't clock what your own body is doing very well.

 

[catseye]

What about Canadian geese? We get those flying over quite a bit.

I think I've told the story here abut being out walking in the dark and hearing a flight of geese coming over above my head. The noise was quite unearthly and terrifying. It's all right when you can see them, and put noise to beak, as it were, but when you can't see and there's just this faint whistly-honk overhead, with no direction, it's really scary. It was only the fact that Dreadful Dog didn't turn so much as a hair, that kept me walking and not turning and running for home.

 

[Bad Bungle]

Saw a large flock of geese flying over Sainsbury's as I was trying to park the bike. There was a series of soft thuds on the building roof and front of shop, with customers scattering from an aerial en masse defecation. It was OK though as I usually shop at Morrisons.

 

[Frideswide]

I think I've told the story here abut being out walking in the dark and hearing a flight of geese coming over above my head. The noise was quite unearthly and terrifying. It's all right when you can see them, and put noise to beak, as it were, but when you can't see and there's just this faint whistly-honk overhead, with no direction, it's really scary. It was only the fact that Dreadful Dog didn't turn so much as a hair, that kept me walking and not turning and running for home.

This is suggested as one of the "causes" of the Wild Hunt. In some areas the geese were the precoursers