Fine, my binoculars are waterproof ... but they fog up. My eyes must be overheating.
1. The Point is so familiar to me I've seen everything a million times, yet I have the sense that I'm missing so much because I haven't really learned to "see" yet. Of course there is always the excitement of seeing something unfamiliar amidst the ordinary. I saw a Fox Sparrow and this was a first for me both at the Point and on my life list. It was the reddest sparrow I've ever seen. Sitting on a small tree right on the edge of a big clump of thick brushy bushes. I came up quietly and saw it before it noticed me. I got my binoculars on it and then it was gone, right down into the thick brush. I waited for a long time but it never reappeared.
2. Nature does not "present" itself. It is evasive and warry. The birds I did see today didn't stick around to get aquainted. The sightings happened quickly and were few in number. I saw a Hermit Thrush in the low branches of a small tree in a thicket. It was watching me and I was watching it until it decided it didn't want to be watched. I saw what I thought was an owl (never seen an owl at the point before), it wasn't far from me. It was gliding just above the tops of the small trees and brush, all gray on the back. But was it an owl?
3. The Point always feels empty and abandoned this time of year. What am I missing?
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4 comments:
I live near one of the biggest old growth forests in the East (Maybe in the whole country!) It's a national park: The Congaree Swamp. I was 40 or 41 years old when I saw a Ruby Crested Kinglet there- the first ever. I am so thankful that nature isn't revealed all at once and that God saves little Ruby Crested Kinglets for when we've walked this earth this long. It loved being looked at. I could tell. It showed off quite a bit...until it saw the camera!
Point taken: I would like to see everything now, don't like this patience thing. I forget who said: "Time is a device to prevent everything from happening all at once."
Ruby CROWNED Kinglet
This why I like breeding season birding: what you see is usually on territory, so you can find it again, and it usually hangs around when you do. On the other hand, the migration brings birds you'd never see otherwise.
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