In a Bird's Eye

           After a busy summer of eating up worms, corn, and bugs, I need a winter vacation! The word on the pond is that a bunch of my fine-feathered friends will be heading down to Florida for a few months. That sounds like fun!

           I was planning on it just being me and the boys, but the wife talked me into making it a family vacation. I had to open my big bill.

Just one more detail to take care of here at home before we take off. I need to have one of my neighbors keep an eye on the nest while we are away. I was going to ask Gary Groundhog, but he sleeps way too much. Perhaps I can ask Harold Hoot Owl? He is an excellent night watchman.

           Okay, it looks like we are ready to start our journey. I just hope the kids are up to it considering that they are only five-months-old. Perhaps I can give them a few pointers along the way. It is going to be a long flight with a few stopovers along the way. You know, I’m glad the family is coming along. It reminds me of when I was just a duckling and flew down South with my folks. My dad was always joking around. He really quacked me up.

           He would tell me stories about him and his buddies and how they used to mess with their lead who navigated them on all of their flights. One of the boys would fly off to the right and another to the left and throw the team out of whack. Nobody would know which way to go. I guess that came to a tragic end though when one of them wasn’t watching where he was going and ran straight into a small plane.

           Our team leader today is my good friend and mentor, Jack. He taught me everything I know about long-distance flights. “Ready when you are, Captain Jack!”

           Here we go! I hope the wife packed a few snacks for the trip. I don’t want to have to ask Jack to stop every couple of hours so I can feed the kids. I probably won’t be the only one though. I see that Donald brought his wife and kids along too, and his wife is quite forgetful. I’m surprised she remembered to bring all of the kids with her.

           As we fly over Lake Ontario, we pass over a pontoon boat with music blasting. My kids start dancing and shaking their tail feathers when their favorite rapper, Drake came on the stereo.

           As we glide across the wind currents, I started thinking of how lucky I am to be here to make this trip at all. It was just over a month ago when I narrowly escaped a human that shot at me. I thought I moved the family into a good neighborhood, but then people started moving there from out of town and everything went to crap.

           It looks like Jack plans to make our first stop Hershey, Pennsylvania. I hope the kids don’t get any ideas about checking out the Hershey Chocolate Factory. That’s all I need is a bunch of ducklings on a sugar high.

           The town seems quiet enough. I’m glad he didn’t choose Pittsburgh this time. The pollution there makes it so difficult to see where we are going, plus it is hard to breathe when we fly passed the steel mills.

           My wife, Daisy rounded up some nice beetles for dinner. I can’t wait. Junior is a picky eater and is not as fond of beetles as the rest of us, so I will search for a substitute for him. I think I spotted some dew worms by the shore.

           We can’t rest for too long. We need to get at least half-way before dark and it is already midday. Jack must have read my mind because he is quacking out orders to everyone right now. It is time to get back on course.

           My kids are starting to get bored and tired already. I tried to take their mind off of things by playing games like “I Spy”. The problem is, there is not much to see up here except for clouds, sky, and the butts of the other ducks in front of us. They keep calling out, “Are we there yet?” All I can do is assure them that it won’t be much longer before we stop.

           I asked Jack if we can fly a little lower over the next city and he agreed. I taught the kids another game that I like to call, “Target Practice”. The idea was to try and drop poop on the heads of the people below. First, you call out your target, and then let it go. The one closest to the head wins. The kids loved this game, but my wife thought it was disgusting. She was so embarrassed.

           The next stop on the trip is at Roanoke River at the border of Virginia and North Carolina. This will be our stopover for the night. The river is quite large, so we tell the kids not to wander off anywhere without an adult.

           Junior, being the curious little duckling that he is, waited until we were asleep and waddled away from the team unnoticed. He had spotted a blue-tailed lizard scurrying aimlessly through the long grass and decided to follow. He was about twenty feet away from us when he lost sight of the lizard in a large bush. What he found instead, were a pair of yellow eyes that stared down upon him in the moonlight. Junior did not know what to do. He was paralyzed with fear. Out from the bush, a fierce creature stalked. It let off a low, rumbling growl. Junior began to call out. I was awoken with all of the noise and spotted Junior flapping his wings frantically. A coyote stood perched above him ready to pounce.

           I woke the rest of the team and we all bravely hurried toward the coyote. The beast was taken aback at the onslaught of winged warriors headed towards him and he turned tail and ran off. Junior was safe. A little shaken, but safe. He promised never to run off again.

           The rest of the night, we took turns keeping watch over the team just in case our pawed predator decided to return with friends, but we made it to the morning unharmed. I guess the coyote was too embarrassed to tell his friends that he was chased off by a bunch of birds. Everyone had a bite to eat and then we took to the air once again.

           One more pit-stop in Augusta, Georgia, and we made the last run to the Florida border. Our destination was Tampa, Florida. Daisy said that she had distant relatives who lived there. We warned the kids, especially Junior, to stay alert because of alligators. They were everywhere along the coast and very dangerous.

           When we finally arrived, the kids were amazed at how hot it was. They were not accustomed to anything except the Canadian climate, so it took a few days to acclimate to their new temporary home.

           I got to work on a nest large enough for us all to stay in during our vacation, but the kids wanted their own places. They are growing up so fast. It is already time for them to leave the nest.

           Over the months to follow, the wife and I worked on adding some color to our feathers and the kids made some new friends that they had met at the beach. Junior even began to teach some of the younger ones about the dangers of wandering off without an adult present.

           Taking this vacation with the family was the best decision I had made since marrying my wife. We are already talking about where we can go next year. She wants to go to Miami, but I want to check out Texas for a change. I guess we can just wing it.