Late Hatcher

A young Andean Flamingo ruffles his feathers as he wakes up, expecting to see his caring mother, but she was nowhere to be seen. Snow had fallen since the previous night, forming a white blanket over the frozen surface on the lake. The young flamingo looked down at his plumage, which had been encased in ice and snow, trapping him to the lake, which was his refuge and source of food. Ironically it was now a death trap, holding him hostage to the ice, and preventing him from reaching his food underwater. Crying out for his mother, his hope of survival dropped lower and lower, as the snow, ice and bone chilling water sapped the life out of his weak body. Mustering all the strength he had, he flapped his wings and pulled his legs in an attempt to free himself from the ice. Pulling out of desperation and the will to live, he gave it one last chance. Squawking loudly and encouraging himself on, he could only imagine being free form the ice, given a second chance. But after several attempts he flopped down defeated, resigning to his fate of becoming food for scavengers like vultures or foxes. The snow gently covered his body, burying him in blankets made of snowflakes and slowly lulling him to a deep sleep from which he would never awake from. As his eyes slowly froze shut, the last of his breath was swirled up into the icy gusts, lost among the mountain winds.