The importance of luck

In the last 3 months rain has been sparse and erratic. Oil palm cultivation requires regular fertilization. Hence the timing of fertilizer application is key…..too much rain = lost of profit, as it is all washed away. Too little rain and it damages both the top soil and causes root burn = lost of profit. Today after finishing manuring the last acre, it rained….it was as good a rain that I could possibly wish for.

You may ask what prompted me to pull the trigger under such a climate of uncertainty and chaos. Last week I spotted a pair of Amur falcons circling high above….this is unusual. Last time that happened was 14 years ago. They are native to Northern Mongolia, well at least the variety that fly down here are. They can be distinguished by their thicker plum and larger built even then its very rare to see them in these parts. Usually they migrate along a very narrow air corridor through India and Lanka. However sometimes due to exceptionally strong winds they might end up further to the east over Thailand and Cambodia, but even then they seldom come down so far South to where I am unless of course they know something we don’t. Birds are devilishly smart, if the headwinds that year are unusually strong, they rather sit it out and wait. I imagine this year it was way to strong for them to chance the perilous flight over the Indian ocean and beyond. These birds know things that we dont and they know it deep within the marrow of their ancient bones. The Amur is particularly sensitive to changes in wind conditions as they make full use of thermals to cover their incredible distances some say 22,000 km, but I figure 35,000. As I used to sail my plastic boat all around the world all by myself in my younger days. I have seen flocks of them as far as 150 nautical miles of the coast from the cape, they fly unusually high, at altitudes of 1,000m and beyond during their migratory odssesy from Mongolia to Africa…..I figure they’re on transit here because they have instinctively sensed the caprice of winds which accounts for why the rains are late this year, that can only mean the westward headwinds are still too strong to begin their journey to Africa….but last week. They formed up and suddenly took right off like jets….that I reckon means the rains are coming fast and furious.

That was to cue to start manuring….I know it all sounds like deductive reasoning. Then again it could just be plain olde luck…we all need a bit of that from time to time. Thank you birdies…..we all need friends in high places to go places.