The Tragedy of Migration

I don't know what year it is, what month, what day. All I know is one morning I woke up, and I could feel the change. The wind was blowing crisper and there was a different smell in the air. Something within me told me, "It is time to FLY!" So I did.

I didn't know where I was going or even why I was going. Something within me just told me it was time, and I listened. As I took to the skies, I heard the cries of my many brothers and sisters calling to me. Glancing around, I noticed that we were all spread out, and decided to try to move in a bit. It seemed we had all felt the same call, but I had heard it a bit earlier and was flying at the head of the gathering. My family and friends fell in behind me, and we began to cut through the air like a knife.

It was a joyous feeling, soaring through the air, feel the wind blow softly through my feathers, and knowing that many of my kind were behind me, all of us flying together in unison. I let out a happy "HONK! HONK! HONK!" and soon they all joined me, a chorus of joyful honking as we flew along. I peered at the earth below us, all living things appearing as tiny little insects, moving upon the dirt, and for a moment, I felt a bit of sorrow that they could not fly as I could. The moment passed, however, as we continued on, flying over rivers and streams, forests and plains, until I became weary.

I allowed myself to fall to the back of our glorious formation, where it was easier to fly, and continued my scan of the countryside.

The leader of our formation changed a couple times, and we even lost some of them to other formations flying in slightly different directions. Not I though. I stayed with my original formation, for of course it was the best. I was in it.

After a long bit of flying, I spotted a lovely lake that I thought we should land in, to take a rest, as it was beginning to get dark, and it seemed that many of our group were growing quite sleepy. I passed this news along, but of course the leader of the group at the time--prideful fellow!--refused to land. In the end, I spoke to the others, and took the majority of the group down, showing him that I was the one in charge. He didn't like that of course, and soon joined us.

Before I relate the next bit, just know it was not my fault. He pecked me first and of course I canNOT stand for that. I am a noble creature, and for him to peck at ME. The audacity! I hissed at him to warn him, but still he came for me, so I had to yank out his tail feathers. I felt sorry once I did, since it would make it very difficult for him to fly, but when it comes to matters of one's dignity, well... Some things cannot be helped.

The next morning, I awoke once again to the need to fly, and led our group in an absolutely marvelous takeoff, if I do say so myself. We were all perfectly spaced and no one bumped in to each other. I am such a good leader. I soon relinquished my place as the leader, and took a rest towards the back of our group. The poor male whose tail feathers I had pulled out was not with us. I suppose he was unable to take off. Well, no matter. I showed him who was boss, and he wouldn't soon forget it. Perhaps I would run into him once we arrived at our destination.

I shook myself out of my reverie as I heard urgent voices all around me. It seems the current front flyer (for I myself am the actual leader) had found a Supland. That means a "suitable place to land". We love places like this. There's often one large body of water, and then these odd two-legged creatures that like to give us bread and crackers, along with what we help ourselves to as well.

I gave them my approval we lowered for a lovely landing in the water, quickly paddling over to the rain maker to rinse off our beautiful feathers.

After ensuring my group was all right, I swam to the edge to the water and with a stately gait, walked up to the first two-legged creature I saw. It was a small one and made quite a funny noise when I came up. I spread my wings to show I meant no harm and a high-pitched screech came out of the creature’s mouth. I tried to tell it to calm down, I wasn't going to hurt it, but it turned and ran away. I chased it, still saying I wasn't going to hurt it, trying to catch it when a larger two-legged creature came running at me with a large stick!

I couldn't understand what it was saying, but it didn't look friendly, so I began to feel a bit threatened. Such a fine bird as me should never feel threatened, however, so I raised my long neck gracefully, spread my wings and let out a big "Hiss! Hiss!" The creature began backing up, still holding the stick above me, which made me quite angry, and I began running towards him, trying to nip at his awful looking legs. I got hold of him a couple times, leaving little pinch marks, but decided it was time for me to head back to the water when yet another two-legged creature began attempting to catch me.

We rested at the Supland for a few days, then I once again led our group into the sky, continuing our flight to where only the Creator knows. We flew on and on, occasionally resting in swamps, ponds, lakes, and streams. We lost two of our party at a lovely little lake about halfway through our journey when they decided to settle down and lay some late eggs. We lost a couple of the slightly younger ones to foxes and animals of that sort. Real disaster struck as we flew across the sky and suddenly heard BANG, BANG, BANG!

Something ripped through my wing and though I tried to maintain my position, I soon plummeted to the earth, a thick red liquid pouring from the wound. I hit the ground hard, but would not be taken down easily, powerfully straining my wings to lift me again, and yelling to those in my formation to keep going and forget about me. I was able to glide close to the ground, trying to keep the stupid two-legged creatures and their bang-stick away from me. It felt like I had gone so far, so I strained harder to lift myself into the air, still feeling the call to take to the sky, when the bang-stick when off again, and I fell to the ground to rise no more.