Feather of privilege

Last night, sitting downstairs, I heard a noise coming from upstairs, and went to investigate. I found a swift flying between my stairwell and bathroom. There have been two pairs of swifts nesting in my attic every spring to autumn since I moved here a few years ago. I'm not sure if this was an adult, that got confused by the open window, or a young fledgling on a maiden voyage, but it eventually came to a halt hanging on the bottom of my shower curtain. So I gently got a hold of it, opened the window more fully, and it flew out.

Afterwards, of course, I kicked myself for not having taken my camera with me. It was a beautiful young creature, incredibly soft, and, to my amazement, a dark brown. I've only ever sen them flying over, or attached to the top of my wall just under the eaves, so have only seen them moving fast and/or from a distance, and they always looked black to me.

I felt incredibly privileged to have had a chance to, briefly, hold such an amazing creature. Then, this morning, I noticed a little bit of fluff in my bathroom, and realised that the swift had left a little piece of itself behind - this lovely feather. You can just make out the brown colour at the tip, though the softer under-feather part is indeed black.

Of course, I'd feel more privileged if I hadn't then lost it, when a slight gust of wind blew it off as I was carrying it to put somewhere safe. And it now seems to have disappeared. Ah well, at least I did get the photo as proof, and a permanent memory, this time. ;-)