The Boy loved hunting and dreamed of travel. The idea of ducks coasting down from far northern latitudes to creek bottom sloughs nearby put the two together, and his imagination sparked into life.
He had a globe he’d been given for his birthday the year he was in third grade. Several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa had changed names a time or two since then, but all the mountains and rivers were the same. Man had mostly left them where they were.
He spun the world right and let his fingers brush the contours. He stopped on North America and found Saskatchewan. He opened a copy of an atlas to Canada and looked where the sub-Arctic ran off the page. Among few narrow roads lay prairie potholes, which would fill with big birds when it was warm. Standing in green grass that topped his belt line, what would an observer hear?
It was easy to see weeks of airborne travel, wings escaping just ahead of the freeze. Birds moved in waves across the Great Lakes and down the Mississippi. They rested and fed in a Midwest flooded by fall’s rain. They paused in Arkansas rice and, come dawn, parachuted into green timber. They rested on big waters and back byways, and followed air pathways a mirror to the land. They rolled on, a living river in the sky.
Maybe the greatest magic of the outdoors is its appeal to each of us in similar and different ways. It was a magic that appealed to him. The cold, gray-skied rain spoke to him, the mud and its difficulties drew him. The birds were the travelers, the excuse to subject himself to the suffering. But the suffering was magical too.
The maps led to a worthwhile purpose, to the spot where misery and migration intertwine. Each fall, birds’ travel brought some to hand.
Anticipation is a key part of any joy, and every bird brought stories of its own. Some of these he would see in person soon, an appointment he intended to keep.
Kevin Tate is a freelance writer. Email [email protected].
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 24 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
