Our intrepid heroines are often asked how they became interested in birds. Two Crazy Chicks Productions, in association with WorldWildPhotoGraphics and What Am I Going to Tell Your Mother? Productions, is proud to present the tale...
Date of events depicted: April 7, 2000
He rolls down the window of his beat up beige pickup truck as he pulls up.
“You goin’ in de-ah?” he calls.
His accent, thick as the humid air of the Louisiana bayou that surrounds our intrepid heroines, is made even more difficult to understand by a marked absence of teeth. It takes a moment to translate what he said into English.
“Yes, we’re going in there.”
“Dere’s beeg alligatahs in dat swamp. Beeg alligatahs. Beeg as mah boat!” He gestures to the flat-bottomed boat he is towing.
“Yes, I know there are big alligators in the swamp. What do you suggest we do if we encounter one?”
“You haul ass in de udder direction!” He cackles and speeds off.
Yumiko, who has quietly been preparing for the hike, turns a distinct shade of green. She’s always been the more cautious of the two, insisting on actually reading the map, taking enough water, assessing the danger before going ahead.
“Miko, the alligators aren’t interested in us. As long as we stay away from their nests, we’ll be fine.”
She doesn’t look totally convinced.
“C’mon,” Eden says, shouldering her photo backpack. “Let’s find this rookery the guidebook raves about.” She is prepared to be unimpressed. Birds have never really interested her. She prefers to focus (you’ll forgive the pun) on what Miko refers to as charismatic megafauna. Anyway, birding is for old people, right?
There are alligators. Big alligators. But, like Eden and Miko, they only have eyes for the thousands of egrets and herons that adorn the trees in the middle of the swamp. So dense are the birds that it takes a moment to realize that the trees are bare, completely without leaves. The birds form an exotic, noisy foliage.
Miko and Eden gape. And something in their souls takes flight.
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