A Beautiful Confirmation Day

Hanging out with alien bird friends.

Yesterday, I went to the park with my son and stopped in the car before getting out, to “set an intention.”

What will I look for while I am there in nature?

I was asking the inner-connectedness-of-all-things to throw something in my path that was meant for me to see and take notice of. I asked that it be obvious that it was meant for me to see it.

*I walked away expecting to see a cool grasshopper or something.

I took this picture a couple of years ago (with my phone) while waiting for my son to get out of school. I was stuck in the car line and there were sandhill cranes in the grass, so I got out and sat in the grass with them and took pictures..

We got out of the car and walked across a wooden bridge. There was a father and son fishing on the bridge. I stopped to wish them luck and chat them up for a minute. Then we walked down the bridge to the grass.

As soon as we hit the grass we looked out across the open field before us.

There was a family of sandhill cranes running right at us with their stick legs moving just as fast as they could.

They were a long way away, I would say 1.5 city blocks. We were not the only people there, nor were we the only people who had just arrived.

My son looked at me and said “They are running right toward us.” I said, “I know, right? It seems that way.” And they kept coming, full tilt toward us until they got to us and surrounded us. Peering at us, looking at all of our parts. The baby was right in front of us, I could have reached out and grabbed him. The male was on my left and the female was on my son’s right.

This is the part where the naysayers say “Someone was feeding them.” That’s cool, I thought that too. At first, I was so overwhelmed by the strangeness of it, I completely forgot what I had just asked for. They stayed with us for a long time.

My son has his hand in a splint, currently, and the female was looking at it in curiosity, turning her head this way and that, peering up at him now and then with red/yellow eyes. He was a little nervous about that at first, afraid she might start pecking at it. They were peaceful; but a bit pushy. They have VERY sharp beaks and when they PEER at you with that wild red/yellow eye, they are PEERING into the back of your brain over a very long, sharp beak!

You don’t want to have your eyeballs right there at beak level. The male was standing at my shoulder in height and I am 5’6’’.

They can be deafening also:

I had to put my elbow up because the male was sticking his face so far into my chest, he was invading my personal space. Haha.

I kept saying “Hey, it’s so nice to meet you. Thank you for showing me your beautiful, golden baby.” *elbow up -“What a great job you have done. Thank you for jumping in to say ‘hey’. How are you? Dude, my personal space, okay….…” *elbow up, *elbow up

He wasn’t put off by the elbow at all and every time I lowered it, he would creep into my personal space again. He came in peace but I guarantee you if I had done my sandhill crane call right at that moment, it would not have been good. Of course, I wouldn’t but I did mention to my son that we shouldn’t make any sudden moves. Well, that was obvious. He already knew that.

My sandhill crane call is probably rude and they usually respond like I am being aggressive. I only do it when they are far away. It’s the sound the males make when they stand up, spread their wings, and yell as loudly as they can “ I AM DOMINANT!”

I am not nearly as good at it as they are, but I do well enough that it always elicits a response.

The baby was right there in front of us. It was golden and creamy and grey. Its eyes were completely black. I didn’t know that. When they are cute lil’ fluffable babies they have black, blinky eyes. It was a third the body size of its parents with the same set of high stick legs. When it turned its back to me, it looked like a fluffy disk on sticks. I could have reached out and picked it up, it was so close.

Now and then it would peer up at me and the mama would “check it” by snipping at it, but no one moved away. We all maintained our positions.

It was strange to be among them like that, so close, sharing energy with the creatures and the peering eyes. It felt like hanging out with aliens.

I decided at one point that we had been standing that way for a while, so we should walk on a little ways now and see what happens. So I told my son, “Don’t make any fast moves but I am going to walk forward slowly to see what happens”.

They followed alongside us.

We created a little more space and walked off under a tree and they stayed where we left them for a few minutes. My son and I just wanted to gather ourselves a little bit, it was a very close encounter and it was hot out. We wanted to stand under the tree and enjoy the breeze. It had just dawned on me what I had asked for and what had happened, and it was like the air was brighter. I felt so good in that moment.

After a few minutes, I regretted being separated from them so I did my sandhill crane call. The male popped his head up like “What did you say about my mama?” And ran right for me.

It was cool; when he got close I apologized and said I just wanted to get his attention. I only speak a little sand hill crane, very poorly. “poquito, poquito, muy malo”, I told him.

They all gathered ‘round again and for about 45 minutes, they just hung out with us with their backs turned to us, standing right next to us, eating out of the ground or scratching themselves. They kept making a soft cooing sound like the beginning of a call that is subdued like a short purr. I had never been close enough long enough to hear that before. That was neat.

I felt a reverberation in the air for the rest of the day. It is beautiful to me. I want to reflect on it further. Initially, I just wanted to share the story.

It doesn’t matter to me whether they have been fed or not.

I just want to keep thinking about it, how it felt to be so close to these beings for so long, and how it felt to realize what I had asked for.

Suddenly something shifted.