NATURE SURPRISE, THE GOOD KIND

A nature surprise is what I hope for every time I leave the house.

It might be in the air, on the ground, or in a tree.

I’m not looking for a snake or an alligator.

Not deer, elk, or coyote.

I’ve got a zoo for all of that.

I want to see a hummingbird, a dragonfly, a big bumble bee.

Why? Because I’m a Granddad and if I’m out with the kids I don’t want to have to run for my life.

So there I was in the wilderness of the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, which is a short drive for the privilege of being in nature.

We parked in the parking lot, me, dad, and his nature scout.

I started off hot looking for my specials, expecting nothing, hoping for it all, when a shadow passed over head, a big shadow.

Two bald eagles swooped low over the parking lot before arcing upward to their favorite tree branch.

That’s one of them up top.

What were they doing so low? Looking for food? Like a little kid?

I’ve never been so close to an eagle in the wild.

 

Settling In

Part of being in nature is watching the process play out between predator and prey.

In this case eagles and geese.

Once the flock noticed the eagles they took to the air by the hundreds.

After the ‘all clear’ honk went out, they came back.

 

 

Geese eating goose food, eagle eating goose.

That’s the process I was thinking about, and which goose would be the unlucky prey.

While we were looking around we saw a photographer with a long lens, so we went over to see what he saw.

This was it:

 

 

Two huge birds together when I’ve never seen one this close.

Call me Nature Boy, which is the name I give my favorite wildlife photographer who seems to draw animals close.

Maybe I’m getting the hang of it, or it was the company I kept?

 

Further On Down The Road Nature Surprise

This is from a beaver?

What else could it be?

I asked the scout. “Beaver.”

I’m trying to think of a more wholesome moment than taking a stroll with a young dad and a kid with a map looking for mysteries.

I took that same dad out on the trails when he was a kid, and now he’s doing it, too.

That’s a win in my book.

To make it even better the old Granddad is narrating a series of books, fight books, that pit animals against each other in the wild.

Who Would Win.

Now we make animals out of play dough and make up stories about their epic fights.

 

 

I know who the big winners are: Anyone who makes time to find a nature surprise.

We’ll see how it goes when I start reading the books in the Michael Buffer fight voice.

Probably scare the kid? Or they’ll start doing the thing?

The next time you think life sucks, think of getting outside.

Expect the unexpected, the bird sounds, the breeze in the trees.

No matter what kind of day it is, it’ll get better on the other side of the door.

There’s always room for another explorer, no matter where you are, like Route 66.

Go ahead and get your kicks.