Image by MathKnight, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
I got distracted late one evening last week and started reading an alarming piece of news, which I hate to do to close out the day. So, I was punished with a somber mood. Yet, all was saved thanks to a book I received from one of my daughters, Better Living Through Birding, by Christian Cooper. Early in the book he relates his growth in assertiveness by questioning, at an early age, an expert’s opinion that a bird was an American Woodcock. It turned out to be a Wilson’s Snipe.
Birding has not been my passion, but I have gone on a photography trip with a friend and do have the rather hefty iBird app on my smart phone. But the point of this story is this, I could not locate the iBird app and went on YouTube looking for an image of both of those bird species.
My news-induced funk quickly dissipated on watching these amusing and hilarious videos of the American Woodcock’s behavior. The second video is very instructive. (This will be an audio-visual experience— turn on your speakers!)
Joy is in nature.
What do you think?
I thought I had previously identified a Woodcock but I've been amusingly corrected.
Thank you for sharing the videos. Nature is a never-ending source of wonder and delight! I have found that when I am facing the most difficult struggles, my best solution is to focus my attention on the smallest details in nature (by which I mean the buglets on the urban sidewalks or flowers in someone's yard -- it doesn't have to be a daylong trek in the mountains). When I focus on the exquisite beauty of a beetles carapace, or the delicate tracings on a leaf, it brings me into the present, where I can take one full breath and be okay.