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After I finished feeding Papa Goose his lunch yesterday and walking around the lake, I decided to sit on the bench for awhile before heading home. The sunshine felt so good on my face as I watched the swans serenade each other in the gorgeous midday light. While I sat, I was joined by several other feathered friends, including a heron, who were hoping I had brought lunch for them too. And of course, I had. :-) Now, I use the term "friend" loosely when it comes to the heron as I have admitted before that they are not my favorite souls on the lake due to their feasting on the ducklings. I had no idea they did that before I fell in love with the lake and I will never forget how I felt the first time I witnessed that scene. And speaking of witnessing, I hope no one saw me when I made a spectacle of myself the time I fell down with camera and feed bag in hand in what was my feeble attempt to save a little one as I tried to shoo the big bad heron away. How I wish Mother Nature could be less cruel sometimes! But who am I? I am so not in charge. The herons must feed their young also. I know this intellectually. It is my heart that is a little slow sometimes.
So me being me, I had a little conversation with this beautiful one who was in no hurry to fly away. I asked her if in this coming season of the fuzzy ducklings she could maybe think about letting them be? Maybe find something else to eat? Maybe find something else to feed her baby? While I pleaded my case, the heron stared straight ahead. She groomed herself a bit and seemed to enjoy the breeze as it curled her feathers. But then she looked at me. And without her saying a human word, I knew the answer to my own silly human question.
She will do what God and Mother Nature intended for her to do.
Period. The end.
Ahh the circle of life. It is not for the faint of heart. But it is for us all.
xo