Article
National Geographic Magazine, Feb 2003
Pacific Suite
It's All a Blur
Hundreds of western sandpipers zoom into Bancouver Island's Clayoquot Sound to gorge on worms and crustaceans exposed on beaches at low tide. "They banked and twisted and turned like tilltle fighter jets," says photographer Joel Sartore, who spent a week in spring downpours waiting for the birds to fly into focus.
The story's photo editor Kathy Moran and design editor David Whitmore liked the "poetic frenzy" of the image, but it was cut to create room for more pictures and text in "Shattered Sudan." "We're so docused on the articles we're workingon, but there comes a time when we have to step back and look at the mix of stories in the whole issue," says Kathy. "The Sudan story deserved more space, more weight."
Found Poem
Little Fighter Jets
Worms spring out spraying dirt on their beaks,
Shake away, shake away.
Peck go the heads and the worms disapear,
Flapping wings and tweeting beaks.
One bird flaps an inch above sand.
Suddenly, banking, twisting, and turning like little fighter jets,
Swooshing in crowds, a poetic frenzy of wings.
dive bombers shell and twist away, away from the crowd.
They've barely had time to be noticed when they are again gone.
Commotion is gone, one unit approaches the worms,
Blanketing their escape.
Worms crash through the surface for air, peck, peck.
Little fighter jets awaiting their chance.
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