“Teagan, I’m going to put my sweater on, you grab the flashlight and shovel.”

Last spring we found a grackle head, mysteriously disembodied and lying on the ground near the river in Hastings. We buried it at the base of a tree overlooking the water, intending to come back for the skull after letting nature clean it for us. This weekend we finally did go back, not really expecting to find it after nearly a year and a bad flood and various other factors — but it was waiting just where we left it, its beak poking out from the soil a bit.

GIF above made by Vernon at the time of excavation.