Like The Birds. But Different.

Originally uploaded by SarahLena.

I know.. TWO FLICKR POSTS IN TWO DAYS?! It’s crazy.

But I wanted to share this with you. Unfortunately, my sub-par photography does not do it justice.

When I was driving to my mother’s house yesterday afternoon, after a long day at work, I always pass by this creek. (Or, pronounced around here as “crick”.) Typically, I notice only people .. it’s quite the fishing hole when the water’s high. Due to our recent drought, however, the water is not high. It’s actually very low. Which tend to attract birds.

On the other side of the street from the fishing hole is the end of the creek. And sitting in the water, no lie, were, like, 60-70 white cranes. HUGE birds. Cranes can be about three feet high, and having sixty of them in one shallow pond was AMAZING.

I drove about a half mile down the road before I decided to park and walk back. I could’ve driven, but in my mind, it seemed far more logical to not leave my car on the side of the street.. and instead send a seven month pregnant woman down a country road in the summer heat. But I walked it. And when I arrived at the pond, the birds knew I was there. They all left in one big swoosh, circling around me and creating this huge wind. Unfortunately, their constant movement was impossible to catch with my camera, so the closest shots I got look like this one. But imagine probably four or five trees filled with three foot tall birds like the one you see here, and you might get the idea.

It was one of the coolest things I’d ever stumbled on to. I was SO glad I had my purse camera on me, and I would walk the mile again to be in the middle of that natural wonder.

Daddy said the birds were gone this morning, so I worry that I was the horrible humanity that forced them further into the reserve. But still.. there is something incredibly calming about carrying an unborn child into a swirl of seventy storks.