I couldn't sleep all night and my mind was rushing with adrenaline. I have lived my entire life among these birds, so it is obvious that I see only feathers, not leaves, but I had to be sure. I quickly sent it to all my colleagues, damn, what if they are bird freaks too like me. I sent it to Cel and Gabe. They are paranoid about different things. Let's see what they "see".
The phone ring was as loud as a hammer, my eyes open and the processor in my head says, "wake up there is an actual Phoenix out there." It was Cel, she was excited, "the story was true, the story was true!" that's all she yelled. OMG, My head hurts even more now. I called up Gabe myself, probably scared of his call. He says "let me guess, you think this is a giant bird, which can come back from its ashes. Huh." "Bakayaro".
Extrapolating the distance between the tip of the wing to the fold and to the joint, it should be. Huh. The wingspan of Bald eagle is 8 feet, and that of the longest sea glider, the Wandering Albatross (Diomedea Exulans) is 12 feet. A Pterosaur, an extinct flying dinosaur is expected to have 12mts. This bird seems to have a wingspan, somewhere around 24-28 feet, the only bird species that fits to this wingspan description is a (Pelagornis sandersi) a distant relative of our present day albatross which supposedly has 24 feet. If it wants, it can very well glide from a continent to another in a single go.
A quick caffeine shot to my head brought me back to normal, CPU at 35% accuracy is pretty decent for a normal day.
Journal entry: 256 - "Azul / Rojo/ Roja" bird ~ Species (Pelagornis sandersi) - edited
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Blue and Red plumage - Yet to be verified
Was seen near the Andes mountains - South America -> Where?
Adaptable to hot temp even inside an active volcano and a wing span of (24-28 feet)
Puzzles:
How did the color change? I know there are birds that change their feathers color when they grow up, but it is usually, white/ black to radiant color. Not from vibrant blue to radiant red. - yet to be known
Was it a male or a female bird, cause most of the male birds are attractive, so if the red was attractive then, it supposedly should be male and "Rojo" not "Roja".
If it was an offspring then, where is the mom? - yet to be known
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So many unanswered questions, ok I atleast have a scientific name for my imaginary bird. Let me assume that if this gigantic bird is moving or was moving from place to place, it has to have a nest and people should have spotted it. I go to the library, take out the books on ancient sightings and myths, anything that is relevant to my research should be helpful. Sightings of UFO, Loch Ness monsters, crap, this is not working.
All I need is just one clue where it went or where I can find its nest! There is no point going back to the volcano, there is nothing new I can find there as the time and temperature might have taken everything by now. But what about the feathers, how are they still intact? I researched, called a couple of my friends, and realized that some explosion might have fossilized the feathers on the wall. What about the bird? Did it perish too? I have no choice except to trust in that story of the red bird that came from the volcano.
I put this aside and decided to go to my cousin's place as planned. His wife is a sweetheart, she makes me remember my mom, not the biological one, the foster one. My brother Josh, is a well planned man. He got his degree from the college he wanted, built his house as he liked and made his family as he wanted. A cute little Lucy, their daughter, a photocopy of her mother, what else can he ask for. As I said, He is a classic nest builder. Nature has various mega builders like the Beavers (Castor), known for their wooden dams or the woodpecker (Picidae) whose hammer-like head drills better than any machine. But nothing can surpass the nest building feats of the Weaver (Ploceidae), it would carefully pick the straw like grass and make a hanging nest that looks like my aunt's winter cap.
He did the same, carefully built a nest and his wife accepted him, along with his nest. I think this is why my mom, not the foster, the biological one called her a gold digger. Huh, it's just nature, who are we to judge? I sense an amazing amount of calmness in their still house. Maybe this is because of the noisy Lucy, whose entropy always sushed the entire universe. I walked into her room where she would show me her drawings, she even drew her own world map. I asked why was the Queesnland red in color? She replied "it is on fire!".
Strange, how can an entire grass land be on fire, it is not a forest like the Amazon, to be continuous. I was not updated, while the world could recover from the Amazon forest fire, the Australian BushFire caused Havoc. Australian BushFire, also known as the black summer, is known to occur every season, while "El Nino" occurs in South America. If the Bird was associated with the weather maybe this is a lead.
I kissed Lucy goodbye on her tiny head, and thanked my Brother's wife for having me. Josh gave me a cigar and flicked on my forehead. yeah, this is how elders behave, Just like there is a pattern in how Lions eat in a pride. Though Lionesses are known to do majority of the work in hunting, the Lion with the thickest mane shall have the first share, then the lionesses, then the Children and the old ones.
Next Day i met Gabe and hugged his secretary, she didn't resist, I think I was not rude. When he heard my plans, he asked whether I was going alone and asked me not to die in the process.
Who cares, this is going to be the greatest adventure of my life. I booked for melbourne the next day. I took Deb's photographs, my diary and that's it. My plan was to draw the images of the bird on the basis of her pictures on my way to Australia.
Difficult to forget how just about a century ago this land was Island of prisoners, now this place and its neighbour New Zealand are known around the world for their hospitality. I take my seat, and smell something familiar. Gabe pulled a Sherlock! He was sitting right next to me, on the flight to melbourne. I smiled and the arrogant eagle smirked, while scoring a point for tricking me. I thought of asking him before I left but, His dreams and mine took two different paths long ago. So, he instead used his telepathic abilities and decided to tag along.
He said a plane hit something huge and crash landed on the east coast of Australia causing the bush fire. It can be a UFO! :-D BULLSHIT!! The hot winds and the dry grasslands cause fires almost every year. This is the only point where I see him flying in his fantasy world. UFOS, Aliens all of this is a myth. There is not an ounce of evidence to prove the same, what he believed in his college days, how can he still hold on to the same? It has been 8 years!
"Are you not going to this place assuming that there is a bird that can come back from life?" That's what he said. There is no counter to this, all there is left is to either encounter a Phoenix or an extraterrestrial species. Aren't we all living up to something? Aren't we all waking up hoping for something? I shall find my bird, and he shall find his madness.