A roseate spoonbill sighted in Wisconsin (first in 178 years) has that state all atwitter this week, even bumping Packers camp from top of the news.

Brings to mind this earlier observation:

Noticed this morning that one of the crawfish ponds on my daily commute route across the Cajun prairie is being drained. Shore birds of many varieties are flocking to it and turtles are leaving.

The turtles’  mission to cross the highway and get to a pond still holding water is sort of like all those 8th Air Force sorties from England to Germany during the big war. They left Great Britain with the assumption of returning, though the fact was many would be lost on each raid.

So it is with these turtles. Most, as evidenced by the carnage splattered along the road, ain’t gonna make it. There’s nothing in their genetic hard-wiring to prepare them for vehicles approaching at 60+ mph, so off they go.

Like those bombers, the turtle migration is a numbers thing. Many are lost, but many also make it to the pond where water still remains.

As for the birds, they come by the hundreds to pick off crawfish left on the exposed mud flats.

There are the ubiquitous egrets, as well as rails, skimmers, a few gulls lured 40 miles inland by the chance of a free meal, and purple gallinules.

Standing out among the birds are the roseate spoonbills. They are, to borrow a phrase, pretty in pink, as the rising sun lights them up like large balls on a Christmas tree.

I suppose their glistening plumage makes up for their other distinguishing feature — a spoonbill that looks sorta like the first, and rejected effort, at designing a pelican.

The roseates are a lot like many of us — not as nice up close as we are from a distance.

Jim Butler, a Bolton High School alumnus, was an acclaimed writer and editor at the Alexandria Town Talk for 36 years, the last 23 (1977-2003) as editor-in-chief. He led Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of Hurricane Katrina for the Gulfport (Miss.) Sun-Herald in 2005. Butler returned home to Cenla a few years ago, and shares his talents and insight with Rapides Parish Journal readers.