Spring! Sproing! Sprung!

Another gawdawful February has finally run its course -- though this Feb was more like a typical southern Ontario Jan and Jan was more like a Mar or an Apr. Clearly someone is mixing up the months. Could it be us? In any case, if you live in a northern climate then I hope this Chestnut-sided warbler gives you some hope for the coming spring. Two years ago I was lucky enough to spend some time around Pt Pelee, Ontario during spring migration. On the day this was taken, two large groups of birders were standing on either side of me, straining to see a fairly rare Golden Wing warbler. They couldn't understand what I was looking at because I was very close to the Golden Wing and not looking at it. My view of that bird was blocked, but this little guy decided to pose on a branch just a few feet from from me. Bayootifool plumage, wot? Just goes to prove again that the most beautiful things imaginable are often closer to us than we think and that learning how to see is as difficult as it is important. I keep relearning this lesson every time we tramp around the edges of forests, wetlands and lakes looking for birds. Annie Dillard points out in her essay, Seeing: "My eyes account for less than one percent of the weight of my head; I'm bony and dense; I see what I expect". Bony and dense. She can say that again.