Pinky The Flamingo Loves Frozen
Pop-sickles
This is a story about "Pinky The Flamingo."
If you've never seen a Flamingo before, follow along and I will describe
her for you through out this wonderful and entertaining story.
Flamingos' are lovely pink birds that live in warm climates, like Florida
for instance. Pinky is an unusual bird and I've yet to come across
one as beautiful as her. Her long
thin legs draw attention to her and her flashy pink feathers make her hard to
miss along the waters edge.
Have you ever looked at a pond or lake when the raindrops fall on it?
It looks like thousands of tiny bugs dancing on the water. But when you have Pinky gliding gracefully along the waters
edge, it makes one appreciate the beauty she too has to offer.
She flies in flocks with hundreds of other flamingos' in a triangle like
geese and make a bright pink cloud as they venture quickly through the sky.
Pinky is unusual in quite another way too.
She loved to eat frozen pop-sickles.
She is about five feet tall, has long thin legs, a very long neck and a
large curved bill making it easy for her to reach the pop-sickles on this most
unusual tree. I'll never forget the
day I saw her doing just that. She
must have noticed me standing nearby because I noticed her glancing my way.
I decided to remain quiet and watch this rare bird in her pink coat pull
a frozen pop-sickle off this amazing tree.
Hanging from the tree were Rice pop-sickles, Grande' Grape, Cherry Bark,
Strawberry Shortcake, Orange Creamy, Mellow Maple, Vanilla Nut, Mushy Mango,
Papaya Pieces, Tropical Pineapple, Coco Nutty, Citrus L&L (Lemon & Lime)
and Kiwi Surprise. All these
delicious flavors were hanging there just waiting to be picked.
Hot summer days made these cool and refreshing treats very tempting to
Pinky and I always knew right where to find her.
I watched patiently as Pinky reached up with her large beak for an Orange
Creamy pop-sickle, her favorite one.
To watch her eat was a very funny sight.
She stood stiffly in the shallow salt water of the swamp and stretched
her long neck high up into the tree. Most
other Flamingo's eat quite differently. They
bend their long necks until their heads are upside down and they are looking
backwards between their legs. Then
they scoop the water with their bills looking for insects and plants.
Then they separate the mud from the food.
One day I noticed Pinky building a nest out of mud along the banks of the
swamp. It was about one foot high
and it was amazing to see Pinky fit inside of it.
She curled up her long thin legs underneath her and sat gently on her
nest with her long neck and large beak sticking out over the top.
I walked over closer to her and noticed two white eggs underneath her as
she ruffled her feathers to re-position herself.
It wasn't long before her eggs were hatching right before my eyes!
Two tiny Flamingos' emerged dazed and confused.
Pinky was a great mom and showed her son and daughter lots of love and
affection. I decided to name these
two little pink wonders "Grande'" and "Cherry," after the
amazing frozen pop-sickle tree that Pinky loved to visit.
As I glanced back at the frozen pop-sickle tree and the little pink
miracles of life in all their pink
splendor, I realized how much I learned from a pink flamingo and her love for
frozen pop-sickles. Pinky picked a
pop-sickle for each of her two children from the tree behind me.
I bet you can guess which two pop-sickles she picked! I smiled and waved Good-bye hoping one day to see Pinky and
her children once again.
Copyright
1997 by Author Patti Tricoli
