A New Perspective of the Far Off Future

Growing Up

He was young. And though his adult feathering was starting to come in, he still had the mostly mottled brown plumage of juveniles. But this adult coloring was starting to come in at just the right time. Driven by a newfound urge to hunt, he had just decided to settle into the empty bit of forest around himself.

It wasn't really empty of course, but it was empty of the important stuff: others like himself. Because along with the adult plumage, came an inherent increase in the anxiety and fear he felt when meeting others. And it was no longer starting to be restricted only to the adults, he found himself ducking away to hide behind foliage when he caught a glimpse of any juvenile Crested Cuckoo Shrike of any age.

And so, to lesser his anxiety, to make himself feel safe and welcome in his new home, he christened it the way only a Crested Cuckoo Shrike can. He threw up on a tree trunk. It glowed with the reflected UV light, being highly noticeable at least to himself. But without yet acquiring the diet typical of his kind, it would not appear truly bright. All of his neighbors would see the streak of vomit and know he was young. If another young, territory-less individuals happened to pass by, they'd know his territory would be quite easy to take.

But in his youthfulness, none of this had quite occurred to him yet. He was just proud of his new land. A land just for him. As he vomited on his last territory marker, he flew deeper into his forest, looking for the flowers he had grown up on as a chick in another bird's nest. He satiated his appetite for a bit, sticking a stick into the heart of such a flower for its nectar. But as he flipped it around like an expert to lick away at the sweet juices, he found himself further unsatisfied. What before had tasted so sweet and delicious now tasted bland and even a little bit bitter. 

He cocked his head to the side, peering down below himself, as he heard the vegetation rustle and a head poke its way into view. Light seemed to flicker and dance from it horns as the large creature trudged its way into the clearing, calling to its fellows with soft bellows and grunts, letting his many mates and offspring know it was safe.

The hornless females followed behind obediently, dragging behind only one baby large enough to be out on its own. But if the Crested Cuckoo Shrike peered close enough, he could see the bulging, twisting side of two other females. He didn't know it (at least not yet), but those females had babies of their own, tucked away safely within their abdominal pouches.

And the Crested Cuckoo Shrike continued to watch with intent curiosity as the small family seemed to stop with the male lifting his head high to scorch the lower vegetation of some trees, letting the burnt leaves fall around them. The leaves which the females eagerly ran forward to gobble up.

And here another milestone was to be reached in the young Crested Cuckoo Shrike's life. For he was now all alone, but most importantly, he felt lonely. For his kind were solitary by nature, forced to live their lives alone for fear of each other, but they were not solitary by choice.

And so, driven by a peculiar lonely need, the young Crested Cuckoo Shrike glided down from his branch to hop down into the clearing. He kept himself a nervous distance away from the family, not sure yet if they were safe. The hot flicker upon the male's horns seemed dangerous enough, but it would take a single female to trample him to death.

The male ignored the newcomer. He had more important things to do, a family to feed. And the females too were too hungry to pay him any mind. One did glance to him nervously, acknowledging his presence, but upon seeing only a small bird, decided to ignore him in favor of her meal.

The baby however, looked up with excited curiosity, having never seen a bird like this before in his young life. And so with only a cautious snort from his mother, he tentatively plodded over, reaching out his neck to its fullest extent to carefully sniff at the new animal. 

The Crested Cuckoo Shrike simply watched, feeling a thrill of excitement as the strange animal decided to approach him first. He felt a need then to jump forward and grab onto him before the animal could dare to change its mind. But he restrained himself, cocking his head to one side to afford himself a better look. 

As the baby breathed in deeply the bird's scent, it suddenly reared back with a happy squeal, rearing up onto hind legs and bringing the front knuckles of forelegs down hard, scraping the ground with his backward facing claws in an invitation to play. 

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The Crested Cuckoo Shrike was currently resting, nestled against the warm sides of the sleeping baby. He had spent the whole day playing with baby and following the herd, interested in all the new things he had learned about this strange new animal. A strange new animal that seemed to be abundant in his land.

He slowly freed himself from the baby's entangled body. The male looked up at his movement's then, snorting irritably at the disturbance to his sleep. But he did not move, for to do so would wake his entire family as all the females were clustered tightly around their male and his flickering horn fires.

The Crested Cuckoo Shrike then took flight, quickly departing the area. He did not meant to depart long, already missing the soothing warmth of baby's body. The small, rhythmic breathing that seemed to fill his whole world. Instead he only moved further along the trail, pausing only when under the light of the moon, a cluster of trees shown under his view. It resembled the same clusters that the herd seemed to always stop at. And so under this familiarity, he stopped in his flight and began to dig.

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He had spent all night in what seemed like work. Driven by a combination of instinct and a memory of strange trap in the ground, he had attempted to copy that. It wasn't perfect and in truth it differed slightly from his mother's (a mother he never knew) technique. For the spiked barbs were attached to the trigger in a slightly different way, but looking deeply at it with a deep understanding of how tools work, he still thought the trap would be effective.

And even though that had been his only trap for the night, wanting to not stay away from the baby for too long, it certainly wasn't his first trap. For scattered haphazardly throughout his land were more traps, identical to the one he had just made. This however, was his first trap he had made with a purpose in mind. Some of this others had simply been just practice and even more were made without an understanding of who was to be caught. But this one had been driven by a knowledge that tomorrow, there was to be a likely victim. 

And that tomorrow had come. The baby was already up and dancing around his huddled family, clearly in need of someone to play with. And he looked up with keen excitement when he saw his new friend. He squealed and thumped his legs some more and so the Crested Cuckoo Shrike engaged in another bout of play. In fact they play until the male finally rose to his feet and gave a long groan, pushing his females up. It was time to move on.

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The Crested Cuckoo Shrike followed for a bit on foot, struggling to keep up with his hops. But once that proved futile, he fluttered up onto the back of baby, something which the baby delighted in, swinging his neck back to nuzzle the Crested Cuckoo Shrike. The predatory bird watched with intent as they neared the clearing and sure enough the male spotted the cluster and moved towards it, intending to feed his females and young.

if baby had wandered to the trap, there was a good chance the Crested Cuckoo Shrike would've done nothing. Their relationship was too new for any deep, emotional feelings to have developed. But then again, those emotions and attachments were starting to form. So it might've been possible that he would've steered baby away from it. But as it was, it was not baby who was destined to die that day.

There was no outwardly or noticeable response from the Crested Cuckoo Shrike when the male suddenly let out a surprising scream, followed by a long squeal of pain. His foot had easily pressed down to the ground, but instead of what the male had expected, the grown had given away into a small pit, big enough for a foot like his. The spikes in the trap had dug in deep by the influence of his weight and once the trigger had been set, wooden steaks had flung upwards to embed themselves deeply into his leg.

Both Baby and the females squealed and scream, dashing off in all directions. Even the Crested Cuckoo Shrike fluttered off Baby's back in a panic, disappearing into the foliage of the tree tops. When the coast was clear and no one was in view but the male, the Crested Cuckoo Shrike fluttered down from his perch in the trees. His mouth was already salivating at the thought of tasting meat.