Mother Nature, Naked as a Jaybird

I just spent five perfect days with Mother Nature in one of her many mansions:  Brazos Bend State Park.

I chased birds with binoculars around my neck.  I shot birds with my 400 mm lens.  I rode my bicycle all over the park’s many trails, almost running over an alligator as I carelessly ignored my path ahead, craning my neck upward to scan the high places of warbler woods. (The alligator graciously paused as it was crossing the trail, allowing me safe passage.  But as I looked backwards after my last minute bicycle swerve, I caught the turned head of the alligator, looking at me with the judging eyes of a motorist watching a speeding, reckless driver.  You know the look.) 

It was a glorious five days.  I came away with the refreshment gifted by time alone with Mother Nature, in a corner of her universe that gives safe haven, for a time.

And as I spend this week indoors, avoiding the Texas spring-break crowds, I set a goal to develop my favorite Aves photos from my five days in the field.  But before spending the hours in Photoshop to convert raw images into cropped jpeg files, I thought I’d post one photo that displays a somewhat unique view of Mother Nature’s beauty. 

She coquettishly shared it with me as I quietly stood in a heavily wooded “bottomland” of the park, basking in the presence of a birdy spot.  And as I turned with binoculars raised, I saw her, standing symbolically in this beautiful wooded field of flowers, naked as a jaybird.  Leave it to Mother Nature to outdo Joni Mitchell’s famous pose inside Ms. Mithcell’s “For the Roses” album release.

Go spend some alone time with Mother Nature this springtime—she will always surprise.  And if you carefully look and listen, she may reveal one of her better sides.