I went for a walk at a regional park early in the morning, just after sun-up. It is a wooded area with many trails. I love the woods in the morning, and this particular place has several ponds, wetlands, and a lake called Fish Lake. I saw blue-winged teals and wood ducks, accidentally scared up a great blue heron that flew to the other side of a pond, and heard many songbirds. It was a natural delight. I scoped out some flowers and toadstools and enjoyed the new growth on the forest floor and all the buds popping out on the trees. In fact, it was this week that I woke one morning, looked outside, and thought,
When did everything get so green?
I stood and watched the great blue. It stood across the pond and kept a watchful eye on me. After a while, it started strolling along the shore, shaking its head from side to side a little bit. It seemed to remain wary of me, and I’m not sure if it was actually watching me or if that was just my imagination—but I’ve had encounters like this with great blue herons before. One time, however, I made friends with a heron. I was kayaking the perimeter of a small lake, and a great blue heron walked alongside me as I paddled. It kept me company for a long time. In fact, I was the one who veered away from it, and not the other way around. It was a strange and rare experience I cherish.
After watching the great blue for a while, I continued my walk around a pond, enjoying a pair of wood ducks. I had already seen several pairs of wood ducks on my hike. I was happy to see there were several wood duck houses in the area. They are currently nesting.
Before leaving the pond, I looked back at the heron again. It stuck its head underwater but didn’t come up with anything. Maybe it was fishing. Just a week away from opener, and I myself was itching to see what I could catch out of the water. I wished the heron good luck and continued into the woods.
There were a lot of footpaths through the woods, and I wasn’t paying attention to which direction I was going. Not that I would know my direction in the woods on a cloudy morning anyway, but I ended up coming into a neighborhood. I thought, What a lovely place to live, with all the woods and ducks and wild things. Then I realized I had gotten turned around and wasn’t sure which path led back to Fish Lake, where my car was parked. So, I left the woods for the road and decided to navigate my way back to the park to do a little more hiking before I went home.
After walking through the neighborhood—down several streets, watching kids come out to the bus stops, listening to the songbirds, watching squirrels run through yards, the usual neighborhood stuff—I found a path that led back into the park. It was right between two houses. How lovely for the people who lived there—a path directly into the woods.
It was a wider, well-groomed path and not just the winding footpaths through the woods I had been on previously. Looking through the woods, I noticed a lot of brown leaves from the previous year that had fallen during autumn. I thought about how, eventually, they would be replaced with green underbrush, and leaf decomposition would begin. Leaf litter would be buried, and new growth would arise.
Isn’t springtime wonderful?
Along the path, I saw a couple of small footpaths leading into wooded areas, but I disciplined myself and resisted—because I was hungry, but perhaps more importantly, I had a lot of work waiting for me at home. I had a busy schedule, and the morning was slipping away. I stayed on the wide path, knowing it would get me to my car sooner.
My plan to make a beeline for my car was sabotaged by a hill that convinced me to climb it. Then, I decided to climb another hill that led into a nicely wooded area. I’m a sucker for hills and have a very difficult time telling them “No” when they invite me to climb. I suppose there are worse weaknesses …
Eventually, my conscience got the better of me, and I succumbed to finding my way home to my pile of work that awaited. Just before returning to the parking lot, I passed a beach where there was a mallard, a red-winged blackbird, and a killdeer enjoying the water. Three musketeers of the bird world. I smiled at the odd trio.
I walked past them, and they each went their own way. I went my own way as well, saying goodbye to the woods, water, and critters. It was a nice way to start my day. Trees. Hills. Birds. Nature. Springtime.
I felt happy and grateful.
