Letting a shiver ruffle my feathers I perched myself upon a willowy branch of a tree. It only seemed to be getting colder and colder, and I knew that the time for the all-too-familiar trip was drawing near. As I looked ahead into the distance, I could almost see the sun setting behind the mound, creating a nice red colour almost like ruby, my name. “Stay on task Ruby…” I scolded myself as I shook my head. I needed to meet up with my family before nightfall and so I quickly flapped my wings desperate to make it in time. I guess you could say I was never an “early bird”. Nevertheless, I zoomed through the air with speed while carefully navigating around the other barren trees and boulders.
In no time at all, I entered the slight space in a rock like structure and wiggled my way around until I made it to an opening again. There laid our winter house somewhere in the middle, in the trunk of a very old tree. I was about to fly up to it and greet my family when I saw a huge, feathered head poke its way out of the entrance. This bird did not look like any bird I had ever seen before and quite scared and confused I hid in the shadows of the branches. “Why was another bird in our winter home? Where’s my family?” These questions raced through my head and remembering my mother’s words I began to fly further inward to our emergency spot with haste.
It took a while to get there as I had to travel across a field but eventually, I made it. There was no one in sight by the abandoned table however, I continued to search as I called out to my parents. There was a sudden whipping sound and as I turned my head around, I could see an assortment of pretty autumn leaves flying through the sky. “Happy Birthday Ruby!” Yelled my family members, neighbors, and friends as they emerged from behind me. They all flew around me dancing in and out of the leaves. I was left in surprise. My father also came up to me and placed a flower crown on my head and I thanked him, nuzzling my head into his feathers. “I was so worried when I couldn’t find you,” I said, finally able to breathe a sigh of relief. They then began to fill me in on the whole surprise plan.
I found out that the huge bird I had seen in our winter home was only my mother’s friend who would be staying with us for a while. She was also in on the entire plan, and I couldn’t help but laugh to myself. I had thought we lost our lovely winter spot to a bird who arrived early but thankfully we would still get to visit our winter home for many years to come. Laughter could be heard echoing throughout the field, and I planned to dance with everyone and enjoy my amazing birthday surprise to the fullest. There were lots to eat and drink and with no worries on my mind I flew into the evening’s festivities.
Written by Sandana
