God could not be everywhere, so he created mothers. ~Jewish Proverb
Over the weekend we went to the air show. In between rows of hangers and roaring planes sat a strip of decomposed granite and wild vegetation. There, tucked among nature’s rubble, sat a Killdeer and her nest. She greeted us with flared wings, jumps, and a slew of piercing chirps that, if translated into English, would make a sailor blush.
She wasn’t taller than my ankle, but she gave me the look all mothers recognize. It’s the one you make when your children are threatened, the one that says, “Why, yes, I will gouge out your eyes, rip out your hair and, in the rare event I don’t pulverize you in the next ten seconds, fight to the death for my children.”
Retirement plans are the only thing that separate us from the animals.
Love the images. And oh yes, the attitude! There is a reason she has a target around her neck. It’s all about the BRING IT!
You captured the head tilt, glint in the eye, and staggered foot stance of one about to fight for her babies.
I look this way anytime I take my two to the playground.
I was attacked by a bird at work last summer. She had laid her eggs in the foot hollow of the swingset. I knew they would get smashed, but I knew if I moved them she would, more than likely, abandon them. But because I couldn’t let them get crushed I shoo’d the kids up on the pavilion and went for it. All I can say is that everyone out there got quite the show. She did take her eggs back, but that afternoon one of the toddlers got the eggs and dropped them on the cement. Poor mama bird :(
Oh yes, there’s no mistaking “the look” …
If looks could kill right?