Thursday, March 14, 2013

Birds on Radar

Today area radar returns showed storms moving north in central Nebraska -- but these are storms of birds, perhaps millions of geese, cranes, ducks, you name it. I am honored to be near this flyway along the Platte River as life cycles thousands of miles north. Every day if I stand outside my back door and wait a few moments, a flock of something flies overhead, sprinting to this meeting ground 90 minutes west of Lincoln. Can you imagine standing under one of these radar returns? Maybe if you can you'll lift off and follow their call.


4 comments:

Unknown said...

I really love your blog! I love that you stand up for the Prairie. I wish people weren't so stupid and uncaring.
My dad moved us to NE when I was nine. I am a native to CA but my roots are in NE. We lived 3 miles east of Eagle off Highway 34 on a farm and I am still grateful to have had all that land to wander and wonder on as a kid. I live in VA now (still).
Keep up the awesome work! I'll be back to check in now and again to savor the words and photos.

sharon said...

My grandparents and mom grew up in Nebraska and were German farmers..My aunt remembers the cold winters and the attic not being heated and they would store the geese up there(they would stay frozen) that they hunted...I have never been to Nebraska and my mother wil die soon...I sure wish she could have taken me...

Benjamin Vogt said...

Denise--the prairie is our last great ecosystem imho, and we treat it with little respect. It's value to wildlife, water, erosion, carbon sequestration is all immense. Thanks for stopping by! I'm not a Nebraska native, I'm Oklahoman, and though I struggle with that identity I now realize I'm a prairie boy, a Plains guy, and so I've begun writing about it.
Sharon--I'm so sorry. Even still, maybe in a few years, you can come out here, see the cranes, see the sandhills and prairies. Maybe you'll find much to honor in your life and mother with such a trip when the time is right. I wrote this piece about my grandmother that made me think of you: http://deepmiddle.blogspot.com/2013/01/visiting-grandma-from-memoir.html

sillydoggarden said...

I remember seeing the cranes just outside Grand Island some 30 years ago. Thanks for the reminder.