Mother Nature delivered up perfection this eve as I closed out the first day of October, my favorite month of the year. The sky was mostly cloudy as I walked due west from the parking area at Paradise Valley State Wildlife Area in search of suitable shorebird habitat. I walked until the path petered out into a mudflat at the water's edge of the marsh.
I found a lone obliging Black-bellied Plover that I observed for a few minutes. However, soon the setting sun captured my attention when it came piercing out between a break in clouds, throwing warm red-orange light across the marsh in complimentary reflections.
After taking in my fill of the setting sun, I returned to my former engagement, digiscoping a Black-bellied Plover in challenging, but also mesmerizing light.
As the sun made its final descent below the horizon, a Great Horned Owl started the evening serenade with its low "who-who-who who-who." Out of the western civil twilight sky, groups of Great Egrets and Black-Crowned Night Herons streamed over me into the marsh. The night herons called out in their hoarse croaky "woks" while sparrows seeped and chipped. The scene was exhilarating and perfect.
As I walked back to my car in the fading twilight, my heart felt full and light. I nearly had myself convinced that this, nature, was all I needed. Nature is seemingly powerless to disappoint. In fact, it is everything to the contrary.
 |
| Paradise Valley State Wildlife Area, Waukesha Co., WI |
After taking in my fill of the setting sun, I returned to my former engagement, digiscoping a Black-bellied Plover in challenging, but also mesmerizing light.
As the sun made its final descent below the horizon, a Great Horned Owl started the evening serenade with its low "who-who-who who-who." Out of the western civil twilight sky, groups of Great Egrets and Black-Crowned Night Herons streamed over me into the marsh. The night herons called out in their hoarse croaky "woks" while sparrows seeped and chipped. The scene was exhilarating and perfect.
As I walked back to my car in the fading twilight, my heart felt full and light. I nearly had myself convinced that this, nature, was all I needed. Nature is seemingly powerless to disappoint. In fact, it is everything to the contrary.
No comments:
Post a Comment