Mwewe Anayeparamia

Alifikiria kuhusu mwewe kwa siku mbili. Jinsi ulivyokunja mabawa yake. Wakati wa haraka kutoka kwenye tawi hadi kutoweka. Alitaka kujua umbo lake, si kichwani mwake bali mwilini mwake. Hivyo, asubuhi ya tatu, kabla ya wageni kuanza kujazana, Polly alikwenda kumtafuta ndege huyo.

She thought about the peregrine for two days. The way it had folded its wings. The instant from perch to gone. She wanted to know the shape of it, not in her head but in her body. So on the third morning, before the visitor lots had started to fill, Polly went looking for the bird.

Alimpata mwewe karibu na El Capitan, kwenye mwamba labda mita mia nne juu. Alikuwa dume, mdogo kuliko yule jike aliyemwona na Tomas, mwenye mgongo wa kijivu kama slate, na kifua cheupe chenye mistari. Alikuwa anakula kitu. Hakutaka kuangalia kwa karibu kile kitu.

She found a peregrine near El Capitan, on a ledge perhaps four hundred metres up. It was a male, smaller than the female she had seen with Tomas, slate-grey on the back, barred white on the chest. It was eating something. She did not look closely at the something.

Alikaa kwenye tawi la manzanita umbali wa mita hamsini na kusubiri.

She perched on a manzanita branch about fifty metres away and waited.

Mwewe alimaliza mlo wake, akafuta mdomo wake kwenye mwamba, na kumtazama. Alipinda kichwa chake. Kisha akajiondoa kwenye mwamba.

The peregrine finished its meal, wiped its beak on the rock, and looked at her. It tilted its head. Then it stepped off the ledge.

Hakupiga mabawa. Alikunja mabawa yake dhidi ya mwili wake, kama jani lililovutwa kwenye shina, na akaanguka. Polly alimwangalia akiongeza kasi. Ndege alipita alama ya nusu ya uso wa mwamba labda kwa sekunde mbili. Kisha akafungua mabawa yake, akageuka, akapaa mbali, na kutoweka nyuma ya mwamba.

It did not flap. It folded its wings against its body, like a leaf pulled into a stem, and dropped. Polly watched it accelerate. The bird went past the half-mark of the cliff face in maybe two seconds. Then it pulled its wings out, banked, climbed away, and was gone behind a buttress of rock.

Mwewe anayeparamia anaweza kufikia kasi ya kilomita 380 kwa saa. Hiyo ndiyo harakati ya kasi zaidi ya mnyama yeyote duniani. Ili kupiga mbizi kwa kasi hiyo na kutozidiwa na upepo, mwewe wana kope ya tatu inayofunga juu ya jicho kuzuia upepo, na koni ndogo kwenye pua zao zinazofanya kama koni mbele ya injini ya ndege, kupunguza hewa inayoingia kwenye mapafu yao. Wamejengwa kwa ajili ya kuparamia.

A peregrine falcon in a dive can reach 380 kilometres an hour. That is the fastest movement of any animal on Earth. To dive at that speed and not be knocked unconscious by the air, peregrines have a third eyelid that closes over the eye to keep the wind out, and small cones in their nostrils that act like the cone in front of a jet engine, slowing the air entering their lungs. They are built for the drop.

Polly hakuwa ameumbwa kwa ajili ya kuparamia. Alikuwa ameumbwa kwa ajili ya milipuko mifupi na kutua kwa usahihi. Alijua hili. Lakini udadisi ulikuwa mkubwa kuliko kujua.

Polly was not built for the drop. She was built for short bursts and accurate landings. She knew this. But the curiosity was bigger than the knowing.

Alipaa juu ya mwamba hadi kwenye mwamba ambao mwewe alikuwa ametumia. Alisimama juu yake. Anguko lilifunguka chini yake, karibu wima, likizungusha kichwa. Sakafu ya bonde ilikuwa mbali sana chini. Hewa ilipanda juu yake kwa mawimbi baridi.

She flew up the cliff to the ledge the peregrine had used. She stood on it. The drop opened below her, almost vertical, dizzying. The valley floor was a long way down. Air rose past her in cool waves.

Alikunja mabawa yake ya buluu-teal dhidi ya mwili wake wa kijani. Alijiegemeza mbele. Akaanguka.

She folded her blue-teal wings against her green body. She tilted forward. She fell.

Haikuwa mbizi ya mwewe. Ilikuwa ni kasuku aliye na haraka sana. Alitetemeka. Upepo uliingia chini ya bawa moja na kujaribu kumgeuza. Alirekebisha, akapoteza mstari, akarekebisha tena. Mita ishirini ndani, alifungua mabawa yake na kujitoa kwenye mbizi hiyo kwa upinde wa aibu.

It was not a peregrine dive. It was a parrot in too much hurry. She wobbled. The wind got under one wing and tried to tip her. She corrected, lost the line, corrected again. Twenty metres in, she opened her wings and pulled out of it in a loose, embarrassed arc.

Alitua kwenye tawi la mwerezi mita mia chini ya mwamba. Alipumua kwa dakika moja. Kisha akafanya tena, ndogo zaidi wakati huu, kutoka kwenye tawi la chini. Kisha akafanya mara ya tatu, chini zaidi.

She landed on a pine branch a hundred metres below the ledge. She breathed for a minute. Then she did it again, smaller this time, from a lower perch. Then she did it a third time, lower still.

Wakati jua lilipokuwa juu, alikuwa amefanya mbizi fupi nane na moja nzuri. Hakuna hata moja iliyokuwa mbizi ya mwewe. Zote zilikuwa bora kidogo kuliko ya mwisho.

By the time the sun was overhead, she had made eight short dives and one decent one. None of them were a peregrine dive. All of them were a little better than the last.

Kutoka mahali fulani juu ya mwamba, alifikiri alisikia mwewe akipiga kelele. Alijiambia labda haukuwa unamcheka. Labda ulikuwa tu upepo.

From somewhere higher on the cliff, she thought she heard the peregrine call. She told herself it was probably not laughing at her. It was probably just the wind.