Too late

FULL VIEW PLEASE

--She had flown as fast as her wings could bear her. Over valleys and fields, lakes and mountain peaks. Her energy almost gone as she finally reached her nest.
But it was too late already.
Shirad'kari, the great sun-bird, knew there were few of her people left, too few. Their survival partially rested on the wings of her little chick. Her mate was dead, killed by hunters, and she was too old to bear any more offspring. A shaking beak gently nudged the small body... cold.. lifeless. She threw back her head and cried out her grief to the heavens, cursing the hunters who had taken her away from her little one, but not seen him, left there to starve.
She had hoped he would live and grow, she had hoped not to live to see her people die out, even when she had been captured she had hoped she would get back in time.... It was all in vain...--


Sun birds- Rarely seen, these birds normally nest atop high mountainous areas. They have been often associated with phoenixes, due to their bright red and orange plumage. Widely hunted for their feathers, bones and beaks, which are wrongly beleived to have healing powers.
Sun-birds live very long lives, the oldest recorded was estimated at 250. They form monogamous pairs which usually last their entire life span. Chicks take on average 40 years to mature and gain the ability to fly, and a pair will normally not raise more then one offspring at once.
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links to the "Set me free" piccah.. the bird in there is the one in the pic, the mother Sunbird.