A long time ago all of the birds were grey except for the Cooper’s Hawks. They lived near the Rainbow Waterfall. They bathed in the color pool and were the most beautiful birds in the forest. All of the other birds were grey and envious. Many had tried to enter the Cooper’s Hawk Oak forest to reach the Rainbow waterfall but none returned so they had decided that it was better to be grey than to be a Cooper’s Hawk’s lunch.
One day, a little grey Warbler came up with a plan. He gathered up all of the birds in a council and he presented his plan. He had a revolutionary idea that they should help each other out instead of just watching out for themselves. The Cooper’s Hawk was sneaky, fast and merciless, but if they worked together they could warn each other of its presence. Each bird came up with its own alarm call when they sighted a Cooper’s Hawk and they agreed that once the Cooper’s Hawk was out of their sight they would stop alarming so that it was easy to hear which way the Hawk was moving. The chickadee seemed to be especially good at sighting the Cooper’s hawk so they were sent in first, followed by the juncos, then the mocking birds, and so on until all of the song birds moved into the forest that they had previously feared. As usual, the chickadees saw the first Cooper’s hawk first and they started to alarm. The warbler dove for cover in a tight thicket of willows. He knew that the Cooper’s Hawk could not maneuver through willows this thick and the Cooper’s Hawk was foiled.
A group of Jays told the Cooper’s Hawk that the Warblers had started the song birds’ plan to steal some colors from their rainbow waterfalls. The Cooper’s Hawks were angry so they wanted to eat these troublesome warbler for lunch. As the Cooper’s Hawk flew past them, the warbler could hear the juncos alarming and the chickadees go back to their normal chatter. The warbler knew it was time to move on. It continued its path towards the Rainbow Falls following the San Luis Creek from the willows in the wetland up the mountain to the dreaded Oaks. The warbler made its way through the Oaks by listening to his friends’ alarms. He was amazed how easy it was to move through the forest in this way. When his friends were signing their songs or chattering amongst themselves he felt very safe and moved with great speed through the oaks. When he heard alarms he dove into the thickets and waited until the Hawks were gone. The Hawks were getting angrier by the moment. They had never had so much trouble finding intruders. This must be a very powerful warbler.
The warbler made it up the mountain and through the oak forest. Near the top there was a clearing in the oak forest and the warbler could see the Rainbow Falls. It was majestic and so incredibly colorful. As the water hit the pools, the plume of mist created a permanent rainbow in the air. There was one small toyon bush between him and the colors. He flew to the tallest toyon branch. From there he dove as fast as he could to the Falls and drank from the Rainbow Pool. He felt electricity go through his body. He looked at himself in his reflection and saw he was no longer grey. He was filled with colors and tears came to his eyes. Suddenly the forest was very quiet and the Warbler knew something was wrong. His friends had stopped singing.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of white and flaming orange. He saw the Cooper’s Hawk’s sharp talons and its bloodshot yellow eyes. He was able to dash towards the Toyon tree and Cooper’s hawk crashed through it but his talons grabbed a large branch instead of his body. He quickly turned and flew towards the Oak forest hoping to make it before the Cooper’s hawk could strike again. He thought he had been foolish to think he could get past the Ninja of all Birds. He didn’t think he’d make it. The Hawk’s talons were aimed at him again and he knew he could not outfly this Hawk. To his great surprise he heard loud screeching and large birds intersecting the path of the Cooper’s Hawk. Four Stellar’s Jays came to his rescue. They cawed at the Cooper’s Hawk and it had to change its course. They screamed at him to leave the Warbler alone and the Cooper’s hawk stared at them with a vicious look. The jays had been the same ones that warned the Hawk but afterwards they had felt sad. They too were tired of being gray. They felt terrible for warning the Cooper’s Hawk about the Warblers plan so they decided to help.
The warbler made it back to the Oak Forest and although the Cooper’s Hawk came after him he could clearly hear where he was because of all his friends’ alarm calls. Eventually he made it back to his home where everyone awaited him. Unfortunately, in all of the excitement he drank the last drops of magic Rainbow Pool water. He had one idea of how he could reward his friends who kept him safe. He told everyone to come close. He shook his body as hard as he could and hundreds of tiny colored droplets flew from his body and each bird started turning colors. They were all amazed. A red drop landed on the woodpecker, some blue drops landed on the Jays. All of the colors flew off the Warbler and he was grey again. He was sad for a moment but he was happy for all of his fellow colorful birds. Just as he thought everything was done, a tiny yellow drop landed on him and he turned yellow. Each bird was so happy that, to this day, they work together to keep each other safe. They let out alarms when the hawks are around and sometimes even the jays put themselves in harm’s way to help out a songbird in need. The forest is full of colorful birds that sing this story as they feed and as they keep an eye out for the Cooper’s Hawk, who to this day is still always searching for that mischievous warbler.
About the Inspiration: Kai is a mountain hobbit that loves to sit and listen to the birds. He is training in the ways of the ninja and hopes to one day sneak up on a Cooper’s hawk and pull off a tail feather.
Here is one version of this story:
No comments:
Post a Comment