It’s all about where you look to find it.
So many of us are cooped up by the Coronavirus restrictions. Even as we see areas open up, some of us are in risk categories, some of us care for people who are in risk categories, and so it’s not for all of us to just throw caution to the wind and resume life as normal. Nature, thankfully, knows no such bounds. In the spirit of life being what you make of it, I offer this. Wherever you are, look around. Nature grows in every little crack and crevice, every nook and cranny. Stuff you find alongside the trail is always fun to see and find, but you don’t need a trail to make those discoveries.
In my own backyard, I keep bird feeders, and I actively court various species. My current obsession is orioles, because goldfinches, house martins, bluebirds, woodpeckers, and other visually attractive species are already regulars. So imagine my delight when I saw a male show up a couple weeks ago. Multiply that by about ten million when I saw this today:
I’m jazzed to finally see the missus. I’m hopeful this means that two of them have shacked up nearby, and I’ll be seeing more of their stunning plumage (and that of their brood!) in the coming months. I have no proof, but this guy might be her lucky suitor:
Life doesn’t always go your way, of course. We all know that when life hands you lemons, you make… goldfinches?
(Let me just say, I was beside myself when I saw that photo come out of my camera.)
Anyway, hopefully the sequestration isn’t getting any of you down. Stay hopeful, stay observant, take joy in the little things in life that make the world go ’round.
And as always, stay safe out there.
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One thought on “The great outdoors…”
After years of hearing their hammering in the woods, I finally saw a pileated woodpecker – at a rookery (North Andover/Boxford) less than a ten minute drive from my house. “Nature appearing in every little crack;” the time I would spend normally driving up to the Whites is now spent getting rid of all the invasive Oriental Bittersweet vines that have been getting the upper hand in my yard. No highly toxic chemicals (Roundup) involved, just a lot of digging, cutting, smothering, and a little bit of stump killer.