Tag Archives: bird

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Gleaning

This is for Ronovanwrites weekly haiku challenge #70, with prompt words crane and gold.

quick look gleaning fields
sandhill cranes glean gold near Sand
Dunes National Park

I lived in Alamosa, Colorado for three years, at 7500 feet in the San Luis Valley, land of cool sunshine. The sandhill cranes would migrate through and glean the potato fields, flocks with thousands. There were more cranes than people at the height of migration. And in the northeastern corner of the Valley, surrounded by the Sangro de Cristo Mountains and the San Juans, is the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, with dunes up to 600 feet high. We were surrounded at 7500 feet by 14,000 foot peaks and passes out the Valley in all four directions. It is an amazing place.

I took the photo in 2007 at the dunes: I chose this one to try to give an idea of the scale…..we had just climbed up to the top of the first dunes….

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Thorns

Once, oh Best Beloved, there was a little girl. She went on a trip to the desert.

The desert was very different from where she lived. All of the plants had thorns. Even the trees had thorns in their bark. But just like home, there were birds.

She saw a little bird. “Hello little bird,” she said.

“Hello,” said the little bird.

“The trees have thorns,” said the little girl. She touched a cactus softly and it bit her. She pulled out the fine thorns and sucked on her sore finger.

“Yes,” said the little bird.

“Where do you live?” said the little girl.

“Here in the desert!” said the bird, happy.

“How can you live in the desert?” said the little girl.

“There is morning dew and delicious insects and nectar from flowers!” said the bird.

“But can you build a nest?” said the little girl. There were no twigs.

“Of course!” said the little bird. “Come see. My nest is in this tree.”

The little girl looked and there was the nest. The nest was built of thorns.

“It is thorns.” said the little girl, thoughtful. “If you live in the desert, you build your nest of thorns.”