my family went camping last weekend. and my young son, the little collector, spotted this pretty bird in the camp store. i immediately recognized it. a painted bunting.
i started to tell him my story of the painted bunting, but thought he would focus only on the morbid part. to me, it is a beautiful and strange little story.
when my husband and i were dating, or maybe newly married, we went to visit a college friend of mine at his parents' house. david went to their freezer to get ice for his drink, and promptly closed it. he came over to me and whispered, "there is a dead bird in their freezer. in a ziploc." like it was weird or something.
at first i thought it must be a dove or quail, something they shot for eating. but he said no, it was not that kind of bird. it was too pretty.
i was sure there was a reasonable explanation, and i was right. here is what my friend's mom told me.
that pretty little bird had flown smack into their window. she had never seen anything like it. it looked like a rainbow, she said, so colorful. she couldn't bear the thought of disposing of it just yet, not until she knew what it was. and finally, she learned that it was a painted bunting.
it is hard to believe such a thing exists in nature. it looks like a child's drawing of what a bird might look like. here is a real one:
it's one of those little masterpieces that takes your breath away. whether you see it in a camp store. laying lifeless on your back porch. or in someone's freezer.
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