The wingspan of sandhill cranes averages nearly
seven feet. You would be surprised how
much that impresses you when a crane in flight is near enough to smash into the
windshield of your car. I mention this
as someone with a fresh experience in that regard.
My drive into Helena from the country takes me past
a series of pastures and wheat fields frequented by sandhill cranes. While driving into town yesterday morning, one
of the cranes lifted from a stubble field near the highway just ahead of me and
lumbered over the fence along the roadway like a vintage World War Two bomber,
missing the highest wire strand by only a few inches. The instant I saw the bird I jammed my foot
down on the brakes.
The giant bird also saw trouble the moment it
cleared the fence. The bird, realizing
that its flight path would put him smack into my windshield on the elevated
roadway, started to slowly roll away and lift as much as possible. I missed colliding with the crane by only a
matter of a couple of inches. The crane whiffed
just overtop my car—all wings and shadow—as my car rapidly decelerated from a
sixty-mile-per-hour streak.
I caught one more glimpse of the bird as it hooked
back and overflew the stubble field behind me.
On my automobile sound system, Courtney Barnett
continued singing: “I get adrenaline
straight to the heart. I feel like Uma
Thurman post-overdosing kick start…”
And then on to a mostly
normal day.
--Mitchell
Hegman
PHOTO: Wikipedia
Well-written narrative. Nice shot. Nice experience with the birds. Very few are blessed to have those even if only a once in their lifetime.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Ariel Murphy!
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