Cartoon vulture on a branch beside uppercase and lowercase V letters, saguaro cactus, hills, and clouds.

Vulture Perched Beside Big and Little V

A cheerful vulture lifts one wing from a desert branch while bold V letters stand near a tall saguaro cactus.

🎨 How to color it

Color the vulture’s feathers sandy tan and cream, the tall saguaro cactus cactus green, and the big and little V letters bright violet. Use sharp colored pencils for the many wing feathers and cactus ribs, coloring each narrow section from the outside edge toward the center. Try a pale peach-to-blue sunset behind the hills so the violet V shapes and the vulture’s raised wing stand out.

The story behind this coloring page

Vanya Waits for the Valley — All afternoon, a hush sat over the desert wash while Vanya balanced on a crooked branch with a strip of violet bark in her beak. Read the full story →

All afternoon, a hush sat over the desert wash while Vanya balanced on a crooked branch with a strip of violet bark in her beak. She wanted to mark the safe path through the valley before the evening wind rolled in, but the sand kept erasing every arrow she scratched. The saguaro clicked softly in the heat, tick-tick, and the far hills shimmered like silver paper.

“Not yet,” whispered a pack rat from a stone crack. Vanya waited. The shadow of the tall cactus grew longer, then bent across the wash. At last, where nobody ever thought to look—inside the fork of that shadow—a smaller mark appeared beside the large one she had made. It was the same shape, only tucked close and low, as if the valley had signed its name twice.

Vanya pressed the violet bark into the sand: one grand V for wide wings, one little v for the narrow path between stones. The wind arrived, but it split neatly around both marks and left them shining. Ever since, V has carried two points and two sizes, a big valley and a small secret waiting beside it. Next time you spot the cactus shadow, see if it is still whispering, “Not yet.”