A Long Ride

I managed to kill the most beautiful bird in the world, and I really feel bad about it. I was riding in the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in South Dakota, which is mostly rolling hills and roads straight as arrows. I came around a gentle right turn at high speed, and by the time I noticed them, the two birds were almost under my front wheel. One of them flew up and I hit the front brake hard and ducked behind the windscreen. I didn’t feel it hit, but as I was rolling to a stop, I saw a cloud of feathers in my rear view mirror and the bird spinning impossibly high in the air. If the initial impact didn’t kill him, the impact with the ground sure did. I don’t know what kind of bird it is, but it looks like a cross between a wild turkey and a peacock. Only a half hour before, I had pulled over out of respect and curiosity to let an Indian funeral procession go by, with men drumming and chanting in the lead car, so mortality was on my mind. I’m sure glad it wasn’t a deer; otherwise someone might have been taking photos of me. I’m sorry, bird.



Update: The bird is a male Ring-Necked Pheasant, the state bird of South Dakota. More info is available here.