PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

A bird landed on the beach. He was large enough, 16” tall, tropical, a curious red and orange. His beak was all predator, i.e., curved down at the tip, reminiscent of the raptors we know and the extinct large ones (gigantic in S America, dodo, etc.). I was having lunch on the steps traversing the beach dune, Ocean Ridge, FL. When the wind was right, I threw pieces of bread or french fries in the air; gulls would hover, dive, and catch them. I don’t recall anything reaching the sand. This day, there was no wind, just surf, sun, myself, and Mr.Bird. And crabs.

My lunch was a brown-bag sandwich and chips; his was doing its best not to be seen. Open sandy beach for the most part, there are small clumps of vegetation closer to the dune; the dune covered in dry grasses and scrub. The crabs, usually scurrying around, were well disguised and holding still, very still. Not so the bird. His technique was to walk slowly along, paralleling the shore, feigning quickly at a clump, as if to grab it with his beak; if no movement, back to walking. One such feint did the trick. Poor Mr. Crab flinched; his claws went up, he didn’t have a chance. Mr. Bird skillfully pecked (picked?) off one claw, then the other. Then one leg at a time in rapid succession until the unfortunate prey was reduced to one leg jerkily dragging his doomed cephalothorax. All means of defense and locomotion gone, the birdie put a claw on his lunch and started in. A minute later, there was no meat left and the carcass was in several pieces. Mr. Bird then gathered the two claws, and off he went. Three seconds later, a slew of gulls, who’d no doubt been following the carnage, landed and squabbled over the remains.

I was done, too, and went back to work, telling my workmates about my lunchmate.

********************************************

A Church needed a land survey, probably for refinancing and a new pastor. South Central St Croix is subtle; low lying trees, the tallest maybe 15 feet. The Pastor was a calm guy, hispanic, curious and nice. The church and parking lot were on the high ground of a sloped site; he considered the low-lying land undesirable, a burden. A stream on St. Croix is an unusual item in itself, to have it naturally canopied with healthy trees more so. My favorite thing: it was dark in there, the leaves soaked up all that Caribbean sunshine.

We walked through the property, eventually tip-toeing across the stream. The pastor was good enough walking across stream stones in his church shoes, I held his hand a couple of times. One of those times, he froze. I had the subdued reaction:
“...what?”
Then I saw him afraid. I thought he hurt himself or something, his eyes focused up, on a branch. Up there was a bird, mild purple & large enough, sitting on that branch. It spooked him, and I said:
“Huh, look at that guy…”
He calmed down, we got across the steam. The bird stayed, I watched the bird watch us leave.

Chupacabra is a beast that descends on cattle (and children), sucking blood and mutilating while it kills. Legendarily, giant birds show up, causing trouble. Scaring people. I figure the superstition is the cause of his fear, a symbol. I’m not sure it’s a bad thing.

One of my buddies, Big Belly Bill, a professional ornithologist, told me the bird was a raptor. They float, if you will, from island to island, the young ones setting up nests. Probably one of those. Pretty.

***************************************************

Sitka Sound is beautiful in early Spring. From Seattle, our first stop was Sitka Harbor. There I saw my first whales, I was glad to walk on land. On the way, there was a glacier at sunrise, perhaps the most striking image that can be had. The sunlight glinted off it. Going into the harbor, rock outcroppings with evergreen growth kept the nautical path. Rock grey and forest green was curious counterpoint to little white dots paralleling the rock tops and dotting the trees. White heads. Bald Eagles, the top predator in the area, had the best perspective, i.e., they watched. Someone threw a fish into the air, eagles and gulls ate the whole thing without a speck reaching the water. Eagles were in charge.

On land, walking around, a rustle in a dumpster behind a grocery store got my attention; a bald eagle came out, KFC little cardboard box in talon, looking at me like “What…?” My thought was “Are you proud of yourself? You’re our symbol!” I’m sure he liked it.

*******************************************************************