2.25.2005
The Hooded Merganser was elegant. We saw it while walking the dog at Aquatic Park in Berkeley. A feather extended back of its head as tribute to the waters left in its gentle wake. A slender bill said that he also looked forward, into reeds and other small spaces.
Birders arrived. We asked and they described a rare bird in the area and we thought it was our slender duck. But they were assembled for a look at a rare Tufted Duck, blown in from Eurasia. When they found him we looked through the scope they aimed generously for us. Surrounded by Scaups he was ordinary except for the tuft, but with none of the quiet beauty of the Merganser, displacing water in the usual way.
The rarest creature we glimpsed had not been determined by a scale of occurence but by the reflection of beauty in our own hearts.
posted by Lisa on 1:29 PM link |
Copyright 2003, 2004, 2005 Lisa Thompson. All Rights Reserved.
