Birds…Animals…Do They Wonder about Us?

One of my passions is photography…and wildlife…as well as wetlands photography when I can find a cooperative model or an interesting, untouched part of Florida wetlands.   I am always in the frame of mind to find evasive creatures ….bring them in a  lens up-close…and making them  quite large when producing on canvas or paper.

  My living room has two pictures of birds that flew into my trees:

• An osprey with huge claws
  

  Florida Osprey Claws

•  A hawk with a blue claws and beak.

 Because we are not able to examine birds in real life up-close, I did not know they were blue until it was reproduced in color on canvas. 

.

It was the morning that a bird came calling on me that made me wonder if they are as curious about us as we are about them?

  I was at my computer and heard a really loud tapping sound.  Looking at the direction the noise was coming….I saw him ….and he was looking at me!    (Where is the camera when you need it!!!)

Carefully, I got up and moved by the window….he flew.   It always happens.    I went to the other room; got the camera and on returning….he had come back….once again tapping as if to say,  “Hey, I’m Woody Woodpecker…come to see you…where did you go?”

There was a screen on the window and I knew, in photographing him, he would not be as clear as I wanted him to be.    Who cares….this was up-close and personal!  Not everyday do we get a visiting bird!

Click…click…and click again.   His red head was gleaming in the light.  My visitor was a Pileated Woodpecker…large…and beautiful.  (The Pileated Woodpecker is a very large North American woodpecker, roughly crow-sized, inhabiting deciduous forests in eastern North America.    Scientific Name is Dryocopus pileatus)

Was he really curious about my writing or why I was practically up in the tree tops in my second story window?    Probably not, but I doubt that I will get such a visit again.   One fuzzy shot was better than nothing to remember this special moment.

Hi! I’m Woody…may I come in?

 

Yes, Woody was clever, cute and a little bit of a “devil”     Enjoy!

The Stage….It is Frightening…and so is LIFE

A young boy stood on the stage.  He had practiced singing his songs over and over.  His style was emulated from  other modern day singers, but his voice was his own.   He loved singing, but today was different.  He had managed to get this far with all the competition.   He was no longer in front of a school group or in a church choir, but in front of judges and television crews that were going to show what he could do to the entire world.   He was scared!

He started out strong, but then the fears crowded in and his voice began to break into some kind of weak sound that did not sound like what he had practiced.   Those glaring lights began to come closer and closer.  He honestly wondered if his legs were going to hold him.   Suddenly, he felt arms around him…comforting arms…those of his mother.   She had followed him out onto the stage.     He knew if he “just looked at her, he could have confidence to sing.”   Now was his moment of decision.

As I watched this drama play out on this large stage in London,  I began to see that this is not different from what each of us has to decide throughout our lives.   Will we go on?  

Most of us work hard at what we do, regardless of our age..or our circumstances.   We are proud of our talents and want to share them with others.   Some have more confidence than others in this arena.   Stepping out of our comfort zone and reaching for the next level is not easy.   Sitting on a fence is even harder for we cannot sit there long.   We will either retreat or we will jump over the fence and press on.    We pray God will help us; we lean on friends and family who support us and we finally look back to say, ” I really made it….It is like a miracle but I did it!”

William Shakespeare said:

“All the world’s a stage,And all the men and women merely  players:They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts…”

He didn’t say how difficult those parts were or how much courage it took to go through the stages of life.  Perhaps his writing would have been better if he had given us some insight to this.  Nevertheless, the young boy you are about to see…made his decision in this world of show business and pressures.   Let’s hope his decision gave him confidence to face other frightening parts of his life…for they will come.