mdyetmetaphor.com

Hmmm, how much of life’s splendour slips by me unnoticed as I scurry along caught up in counting and racing for the finish line?

I’m in fall bird watching mode now as the nesting birds succumb to the seasonal imperative and begin winging their way south. Those of us afflicted with the bird watching obsession get rather caught up in building our day list, our season list and our year list.

Fall migration birding can be a feast or famine scenario. Depending on the weather conditions, the trees and fields can be buzzing with birds or frustratingly quiet.

Yesterday was a famine day. On those days I accelerate my pace trying to cover as much territory as possible to round up a respectful day list. Occasionally, Mother Nature reminds me that I should be less concerned with numbers than with the wonder of each and every one of her winged creatures.

As I was hoofing it down a trail in one of my favourite birding spots, a Northern “Yellow Shafted” Flicker passed overhead and landed in a tree. Flickers are large woodpeckers – 12” tall with a 20” wingspan and large curved bill.

Flickers boast quite eye-catching plumage. They have a brownish barred back, spotted belly, black whisker stripe below the eye and black breast-band. A red nape adorns their rather regal grey head.  But Flickers are quite common so I rarely take the time to properly admire them.

On this day, I mentally ticked off the species on my day list and was about to continue on to the viewing platform overlooking the marsh. Fortunately, at that moment the Flicker lifted off and took wing. The angle was just right for me to catch the striking flash of golden yellow under the wings.

I stopped in my tracks and tried to recall the last time I had taken note of this exquisite feature. I’m a bit ashamed to admit that I couldn’t remember. I realized that Mother Nature was telling me:

Slow down. The graces I have for you today take time and patience to experience. Isn’t reveling in these graces worth two or three less species on your day list?

The answer, of course, is yes.

The exotic face pattern, swept-back crest, red bill and rainbow iridescence of a Wood Duck…

The snow-white plumage, yellow dagger-like bill and s-curve neck of the stately Great Egret…

The sun-yellow breast, black necklace and yellow spectacles of the Canada Warbler…

All of these are worth pausing to stop and admire again and again. It matters not whether I have 45 or 50 species on my day list. What truly matters is that I take the time to find and delight in beauty wherever it presents itself. I need to dial down the RPMs so I catch those moments of grace. Letting them slip by unnoticed would be shameful waste.

~ Michael Robert Dyet is the author of “Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel” – double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog.

~ Subscribe to “Michael’s Metaphors of Life Journal aka Things That Make Me Go Hmmm” at its’ internet home www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog2. Instructions for subscribing are provided in the “Subscribe to this Blog: How To” instructions page in the right sidebar. If you’re reading this post on another social networking site, come back regularly to my page for postings once a week.

~ Send comments or questions to michael@mdyetmetaphor.com.

Tags:   bird-watching · metaphor · Michael Robert Dyet · Nature · slow down4 Comments