Atelier

Today’s word is atelier, which is a noun that means a workshop; a studio.

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On a bitterly cold day in a harsh winter landscape of leafless tree trunks stabbing up through a deep crust of snow, the sharp shinned hawk, with the intently arrogant gaze of a hunter, sits atop the highest branch of the tallest oak tree, at the edge of an open field. Like an artist gravitates to the environment of an atelier to feed her creativity, this hawk is drawn to the same perch every morning to ensure her survival. Alone, she waits, scanning surrounding fields, hundreds of feet into the distance, in an upright, stately, motionless stance, moving only her piercing eyes, so as not to attract the attention of her prey.

As expected, the small songbirds scattered after large black crows announced her initial arrival, with their flurry of caws and cackles, but she knows that eventually her quarry will return, hesitantly at first, to the backyard feeders that contain an assortment of seeds and suet. Given sufficient time, she knows that one courageous, hungry, usually younger bird will return alone, a sacrificial lamb, to snatch a seed and fly back quickly to the safety of a shrub, but, after several successful trips, the other birds, incorrectly sensing safety and security, will begin to feed as well. With her round, sharp, blood red eyes, all activity is captured and processed, with inscrutable, unshakable concentration, until an inattentive sparrow, or perhaps a finch or starling, becomes too engrossed in the offerings of the feeder and seals its own fate, as a food source for the speedy, agile flier.

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