SHS #1 - Spoonbill

A lot of rain is forecast over the next few days. A great deal of rain.
And the pigeons are bound to come, because the farmer has sown peas.
So I may as well have another go at those pigeons.

A pallet in the ditch, which is really more of a deep, wide drainage channel, provides stability and keeps my feet dry. Camouflage netting around me, the decoys set out, and I am ready.

Suddenly, something white. It is a spoonbill.
It lands 150 meters from the blind and walks into the ditch.
Its bill sweeps through the water, sifting as it goes.
Its crest flutters in the wind from time to time.
Its orange-yellow breast patch is magnificent.

And slowly, very slowly, it comes toward me.
The moment when it can go no farther is drawing near, because then it will walk straight into the blind.
“Damn, what am I looking at now?” it must be thinking, I imagine.
It climbs onto the bank, apparently intending to walk around the blind.

It still has not noticed me. This camouflage is good stuff.

It is on the bank now, right beside the blind.
It can look inside and sees me.
It gets the fright of its life.
So do I, even though I knew this moment had to come.
And off it goes.

Now let the pigeons come back.
I thought it was so beautiful that by then I had already let a few of them pass...