Day 6: Patience

Bussey Brook Meadow, Arnold Arboretum 6:45am-7:40am
misty, rainy, filmy-grey-white

Perception is everything.

Where a fully-rested me saw magic and wonderment in yesterday's drizzle, a more tired me today kept thinking about oatmeal and a nap. And a woeful lack of birds. All I could hear was rain rain rain.

Just when I had finally given up and was trudging home, mentally justifying the absence of birds on such a wet morning (and rationalizing that the search was more important than the result), I heard a little chorus of bird-y busy-ness. Bingo!

Ducking off the path and through a bramble of bushes, I found the hide-out: a somewhat sheltered area about 30 yards square, with a dozen or so trees whose airspace was continually crossed by chirping birds. Turns out I could use a botanist collaborator as well, because the type of tree surely matters: something yummy was attracting these guys. (this part of the Arboretum is not labelled)

They were high up, and constantly moving, so it was impossible to zero in on one. Instead, I thank Ziploc and the flexibility of this project for letting me record the Bird-Lair-of-the-Day:


I've been thinking a lot about the value of Patience. Today was a good reminder.