In Only a Week!: Mother Nature Wakes Up for Spring

                Wow! What a difference a mere week can make!

                Remember when I told you about those geese on the frozen pond nearby? I told you how cute they were chasing each other around and then flapping wildly as they tried to land on the slick surface.

                Well, I headed on down to that same lake only a week later and you wouldn’t believe the change!

                First off, there wasn’t so much as a chip of ice to be seen anywhere. None! The lake was entirely liquidy, with waves sloshing on the shore and the whole works.

                My four little geese had been joined by another couple or two (or three?), and there was lots of honking going on. It was a party! But there were other guests as well. A host of mallards has shown up for the season. Some of them seemed to be couples, too, but there was also a group of green-headed bachelors gliding around.

                And just like that, out of nowhere, our peaceful, frozen winter pond has become a sloshing, noisy, active spring hub-bub. Of course, we’re just beginning. It won’t be too long before these water birds are being followed around by crowds of tiny versions of themselves and the brown, crispy reeds will turn a rich green and tremble with songbirds.

                As it is, I’ve seen greenery in a few gardens around town, and glimpsed a few bunnies wearing their brown spring fur.

                I know all this seems commonplace. Happens once a year every year, right?  Well, sure, but it’s always just so amazing watching all the various ways Mother Nature takes care of the earth. Now if we could only find a way to follow suit.

                Someone else was in the lake that day. Two someone elses, actually. A couple of little muskrats glided contentedly among the birds sniffing away at last year’s old reeds. They no longer need to dig out those holes in the ice. They have the run of the pond.

                Although I was happy to see them, I was kind of sad, too. I’ve asked this question a million times and I’ll ask it a million, billion more, because I just simply don’t get it. Why must our wildlife be forced to sludge around in trash in their own pond? In the photo below you’ll see one of the muskrat wending his way around plastic bags, plastic bottles, and other unrecognizable garbage. This is a common sight all around this lake. Just outside of frame there were also numerous beer cans and bottles. I’d love to clean it up myself, but it was all too far in to reach without a boat. Or at least hip waders.
 

                But the sight that made me cringe the most, the thing that made me clench and groan was when I turned around after taking that photo and saw a perfectly serviceable trash can only about five steps away. Can you imagine standing right in front of a trash can and choosing to throw your garbage at the birds and muskrats instead?

                Well, it’s the start of another summer, and I suspect I’ll spend a chunk of this one trying to determine what we can do about our littering issues in this world.

                Any ideas?

Comments

Anonymous said…
Very sad and amazing that people are still littering in this day and age. Maybe posting this picture in a few places online would get more people to think.