cheryl crotty photography

An Elite Raptor

March 27, 2022 Cheryl crotty

Snowy Owl Near Ocean Shores A castaway blown south from the arctic tundra sits on a stump in an abandoned farmer’s field. Beyond the dunes cattails toss and bend as snappy as the surf, rushing and crashing down the jetty. His head a swivel of round glances, his eyes a deeper yellow than the winter sun, he wonders if the spot two hundred feet away is a mouse on the crawl from mudhole to deer-grass patch. An hour of wind and sleet whips the air, nothing darts or passes but the river underground. A North Pole creature shows us how to last. The wind ruffles his feathers from crown to claw while he gazes into zeroes the salt-slick rain. As a double-rainbow before us arcs sky and owl, we leave him surrendering to the echo of his white refrain.

Duane Niatum

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