What fantasies rest upon dreams made of feathered wings…

To take flight, to swim naked through the ether under the power of my own mind…  Ah, such is the foundation of hope.

Envy fills the space betwixt the flying bird and mine eyes.

Tiptoeing across the lake’s surface becomes the godlike fantasy of all men: to waltz upon the water without sinking.

For something so ethereal as air to hold me aloft, for something so invisible as atmosphere to defy gravity…

Stretching my arms unto the ends of the earth only to find them capable of holding me above the ground rests within the confines of powerful magic.

The world would fill my sight with vistas profound and indomitable.  Every tiny thing moving upon the ground and every flying beast flitting through the cosmos would bring to me visions meant for more powerful beings.

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Photos:

[1] A female red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) soaring high above the family farm in East Texas.  She spent a great deal of time arcing beyond sight where the treetops shielded her from prying eyes, yet once in a while she came into view as she circled, climbing higher and higher with each pass, moving further into the distance as she began her hunt.

[2] A dule of rock doves (a.k.a. common pigeons; Columba livia) circling above Sunset Bay at White Rock Lake.  Seen at top left is the marvelously unique dove I first encountered in November.

[3] An American white pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) taking off near the sandbar in Sunset Bay.  Other pelicans remained wholly unimpressed with the giant bird as it skipped across the water’s surface while its powerful wings carried it aloft.

[4] A juvenile black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) remained unseen until it took flight, its plumage offering superior camouflage amongst the autumnal limbs already stripped naked by powerful winds and seasonal change.  The bird remained unnoticed while I visited the inlet that herons and egrets frequent, and it caught me by surprise when it took to the air.

[5] A great egret (Ardea alba) soaring above the shoreline.  I surprised it as I rounded the corner that provided it a reed-filled hiding place, but I found myself fortunate enough to suspect its presence before I stepped into the clearing where it hid.

[6] A juvenile ring-billed gull (Larus delawarensis) turning sharply as it flew over my position on the pier in Sunset Bay.