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Minor joys
Nov. 12th, 2002 10:55 pmThere's something mildly frustrating about simultaneously being in love with wildlife and nature, and deeply desiring the luxury and convenience of living on the outskirts of a major city in a suburb that's more 'urb' than 'sub.' So, my random close encounter with a local raptor today felt like a small miracle.
There's a smallish park that I have to drive past to get just about anywhere from my house. As my sweetheart and I were driving home today, and I was peering out the window to watch the geese try to attack the raindrops, I noticed a too-small, too-beige shape standing in the middle of the field. Since raptors don't usually stand in the middle of open parks at midday, this concerned me just a bit, and I hopped out of the car at the next stoplight to make sure he wasn't hurt. Probably not the wisest idea in retrospect, since I was armed with a leather jacket and noble aspirations and not much else, but that's never stopped me in the past....
Anyway, I was expecting to find a little red-shouldered hawk, maybe with a foot stuck in something. Instead, I found the most breathtakingly beautiful bird I've ever gotten close enough to to watch for any length of time. An osprey (at least, that's the best guess I can make with my memory and my Audobon guide), sitting in the middle of the park, eating his lunch. His eyes were the most amazing shade of almost-gold. I was close enough to see the individual feathers - the subtle shadings in his tail, the glowing ivory of his breast. He was strong, and healthy - I'm used to working with sick, injured birds, and seeing this fellow brought home to me just how debilitated a wild animal usually has to be before people can get close to it.
He didn't seem to mind my presence; I sat within arm's reach of him for several minutes, watching him eat and just glorying in being this close to something so wild and beautiful. Another member to add to my little circle of urban beasties - the Mystic River Turtles and the skunk under the porch, the raccoon that I worry someday will move into our house and figure out how to use the TV remote and microwave, the vamp-faced possums that sneak out after midnight. I don't know what I'd do without them in my life....
There's a smallish park that I have to drive past to get just about anywhere from my house. As my sweetheart and I were driving home today, and I was peering out the window to watch the geese try to attack the raindrops, I noticed a too-small, too-beige shape standing in the middle of the field. Since raptors don't usually stand in the middle of open parks at midday, this concerned me just a bit, and I hopped out of the car at the next stoplight to make sure he wasn't hurt. Probably not the wisest idea in retrospect, since I was armed with a leather jacket and noble aspirations and not much else, but that's never stopped me in the past....
Anyway, I was expecting to find a little red-shouldered hawk, maybe with a foot stuck in something. Instead, I found the most breathtakingly beautiful bird I've ever gotten close enough to to watch for any length of time. An osprey (at least, that's the best guess I can make with my memory and my Audobon guide), sitting in the middle of the park, eating his lunch. His eyes were the most amazing shade of almost-gold. I was close enough to see the individual feathers - the subtle shadings in his tail, the glowing ivory of his breast. He was strong, and healthy - I'm used to working with sick, injured birds, and seeing this fellow brought home to me just how debilitated a wild animal usually has to be before people can get close to it.
He didn't seem to mind my presence; I sat within arm's reach of him for several minutes, watching him eat and just glorying in being this close to something so wild and beautiful. Another member to add to my little circle of urban beasties - the Mystic River Turtles and the skunk under the porch, the raccoon that I worry someday will move into our house and figure out how to use the TV remote and microwave, the vamp-faced possums that sneak out after midnight. I don't know what I'd do without them in my life....
