Going It Alone - E. D. James

To all appearances it was a perfect family group. The mother and father attentive and supportive. The adolescent appeared healthy and alert, learning its lessons in survival. Lessons it would need in just a few short weeks when they took off for the winter feeding grounds in the California’s Central Valley. But Olivia knew this family had a past that wasn’t quite so idyllic, like every family.

For the past fifteen seasons that Olivia had been observing this flock of Sandhill Cranes that summered around Homer, Alaska, the mother had been with another male. She had produced thirteen offspring with her previous mate. Cranes that were now the forming the core of the resurgent growth of the flock. But for the previous two seasons this long-standing couple had failed to produce viable eggs. Olivia had watched at the start of the summer as the female drove her long-standing mate away. Viciously. Whenever the male approached she attacked him with beak and talons, drawing blood on more than one occasion. Several younger, stronger males approached over those frenzied first days in Alaska. The female danced with several of them while her former mate watched. Finally she chose and coupled with a male who then joined her in driving the ex out of their territory.

Now the new family group fed furiously on the bounty of the August insects and reptiles and amphibians that blessed the wetlands around Homer. They were building fat and strength for their fifteen hundred mile trip to the wetlands and cornfields around Lodi, California. Olivia had been watching for several days, looking for a chance to trap the adult male with satellite and radio transmitters so that she could track their return to the winter grounds and observe their behavior over the coming months. The sunny, calm day was perfect for her blast nets and she had high hopes she would accomplish her goal this afternoon.

A shadow passed across the edge of Olivia vision. The shadow morphed into a Bald Eagle hurtling from the sky with talons aimed. The adult male Crane unfolded its long wings and jumped to the side about ten feet in one tremendous leap. It was too late. The Eagle hit the crane in the middle of its back knocking it to the ground in a cloud of feathers. Olivia began running in the direction of the birds yelling and making as much noise as she could. The Eagle locked it’s talons into the back and sunk its beak into the neck and spread its wings trying to lift off with its prize before the crazed woman rushing at them could spoil it’s meal. It flapped once, twice, and lifted the still squirming body of the Crane off the ground, but as it rose, the chunk of flesh held by the talons broke loose. The body began falling and the Eagles neck bent sharply down for just an instant as its beak took up the weight and then it let go and the Crane dropped to the ground. The Eagle flapped hard and rose back into bright blue sky, screaming in frustration over it’s lost meal.