Janet and I saw a Peregrine Falcon in a tree while out volunteering on Lake Hodges this morning. And it got me to thinking. We’ve seen another one recently – probably this same bird because there aren’t many of them around here. We’ll probably see it again and again if it hangs around for the winter. We’ll come to know its favorite morning perches (we’re out in the mornings) and we’ll get to the point where we know it at a glance without having to go closer and squint up our old eyes trying to make out its patterning.
I know this will happen because it has already happened with so many other birds (and coyotes) that we see on the lake. Do you know how many different ways a Snowy Egret can catch a meal? We don’t – yet – because we keep seeing new ones. Have you seen coyotes hunt and catch fish from the shore? Or heard the swishing sound of thousands of minnows leaping from the surface of the water?
Awareness of all of these details bring the richness of life into focus. This is one of the nice things about spending a lot of time in the same place. You get to know it more intimately than if you just go there once or twice a year and power yourself along a trail on foot or mountain bike. I urge you to try it. Pick a place you love and spend lots of slow time there with your focus outwards on the life around you.
And while you are there, do what you can to help that wildlife survive the onslaught of civilization. Bring back some litter, pull some fishing line out of the brush or rocks, pull some invasive weeds, etc. It may not seem like a lot, but you’re just one person. Do what you can. It is more than most people do. And it does matter.