I admit it. I like to watch the wildlife. Sometimes they don't know they are being watched. Sometimes they suspect it. Sometimes when they notice me, they fly away or run away or hide. At other times, they fly right at me and make me step back. But did you know that sometimes I feel watched, too?
Yesterday, I was looking at a dragonfly that was perched on the very edge of a bare Weigela limb. When it noticed me, it flew off like some kind of miniature helicopter. No, really, that's what I was thinking, when I saw it fly off. And then moments later the air was torn by the noise of a giant engine very close to the ground, and Bow, who was in the outer pen screeched and the leaves on all the trees trembled, and then I saw it: a black helicopter flying pretty low over my property.
Keep in mind the the camera makes it seem further away. But it felt really close, and it was a little scary, for me and Bow and the dogs. And then it went away, and I went back to my voyeurism.
In the calm and quiet of the ordinary every day life of the pasture, I spotted a great spangled fritillary on a thistle plant.
When it saw that I had spotted it, instead of flying away, it seemed a little angry at me for my invasion of its privacy, and it flew right at me.
Then it landed not too far away, daring me to come in for a closer picture. I wonder what would have happened if I had flown right at that black helicopter as a response to its presence!
Later in the day, while I was admiring the changing leaves of the maple tree, I saw a squirrel in the adjoining oak tree. I tried to come in closer to get a better view of the squirrel, but it hid on the other side of the branch from me. Giving up, I notice that Nile the cat was climbing up the oak, using only his claws to hang on to the tree.
In the evening, the younger deer was grazing alone in my front yard.
It suspected that I was watching, but until I stepped out it was not sure.
Its mother was waiting just around the corner of the house, so that's why it did not escape into the pasture, which would have been faster. I felt bad when I saw the panic in its eyes.
But the mother and child were reunited and later went back into the woods together. If the black helicopters ever come for me and Bow, I wish we could escape into the woods and disappear, too.
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Being able to see so much wildlife is a perk to where you live.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is definitely a perk!
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