Tri-colored Blackbird- present day Sacramento, California, Female, 42 g
Every bird is starving. There is nothing to eat here, other than what little can be scavenged out of these big open black barrels that reek of rotten stink and flat-faces’ food. A bird, desperate, at a little bit of it. He died the next day, screeching as he lay there, unable to move. Since
then, we have been too afraid to eat. My chicks are wailing now, but I have nothing to feed them. If only there were seeds. If only we were not driven out. I think that it will be our doom. Despite many doubts, we have decided to leave. Many are afraid, after seeing dozens of birds killed by the monsters or killed by the poisonous reeking food. They want somewhere better, somewhere safe. I couldn’t bear to say that there probably isn’t any safe place for us left. So we leave, our flock a little bit diminished, but almost as big as before. We are fortunate we haven’t lost more. Even though many of us are too weak to fly, we have decided to risk it anyways. There is no chance of the flock splitting up. We will never do that, even if it means death. What would we be if we didn’t have a colony? So we fly together south. If a few drop of starvation, we will try to carry them. If we can’t, we will have to leave them. This is what it comes down to. Survival of the fittest.
We have started a long journey again, the second in three days. This will be an even longer journey, and who knows the outcome? My chicks are growing up on the run, and as time passes, my hope fades. I hope we can settle somewhere fast, because I do not think my chicks can take much more. They must fly themselves, despite being so new at it. It is unnatural for them, and I am afraid that one will drop out of the sky at any moment.
We’ve landed. A very quiet place, not like the place we went earlier with all the buildings. There are a few one floor wooden buildings here and there, but they seem very simple. There aren’t even flat faces in sight. And I even see grass. Real grass, which the place with all the tall buildings doesn’t have. The sky is clear. It is really far from our previous place, but is it possible to live here? I do not think we can find a place without flat faces anymore, but maybe this will be good enough. I do not think we can take our chances and try to find another place.
I think it’s time to stay here. Flying around, I see grain fields all over the place. I also see cows on the hills, munching and eating and walking all over the hill the whole time. It’s like they don’t know how to do anything else. I like this place, though. It is similar to our old home. I want to stay with the colony, so I hope that they will choose this place. I think that many birds, especially like this place. It has a certain feeling of comfort that I can’t ignore. It even makes me feel like we can be accepted. I don’t think that the flat-faces will be able to ignore a big colony of tricolored blackbirds. But maybe these flat-faces are different. Maybe there are still a few decent flat-faces in the world.
We have decided to stay here. I don’t think that anyone wants to leave. So far, there has been no sight of flat-faces, and there is still all that grain out there. For the first time in our journey, everyone feels full and content. It isn’t time to make new nests yet. For now, I am focusing on my chicks, who are growing up very quickly. When I build a new nest, and care for new chicks, I hope that they can grow up peacefully and have a good life in this grain field. I hope that this grain field won’t be cut up like the other one. I hope that this grain field will be left untouched, for the sake of the colony and for the chicks. And even for the sake of our survival.
No comments:
Post a Comment