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Nature continues to amaze

Posted on April 18, 2018 by Taber Times

As a very young boy I thrilled at the newness of spring and especially the coming of the waterfowl back to our land. At the age of 82, my senses, heart and soul still find delight in what I see.

Today, I saw hundreds of beautiful white trumpeter swan feeding in stubble fields, swimming and searching in the bottoms of numerous ponds for bits of food. Three of them flew over my car so low that I could see the pure white of their feathers, the black undertips of their tails and the glossy black gleam of their combed sleek heads.

Then, I saw thousands of snow geese moving towards me in fragmented lines not yet mastering the clean v’s in which the Canadian geese fly. As some passed over I gazed upon their black-tipped wings and the contrasting white of their body. The cacophony of song sounded much like a 100-piece orchestra of excited middle school students tuning up just before their long-awaited spring concert.

Along the road I caught the magnificent colours of a male pheasant against the backdrop of a white snowbank. In another place, I saw 40 or so robins gorging themselves on red berries in a tree not much taller than I.

Romance was in the air and on the fields as I noticed dozens of pairs of Canada geese eating and bonding together readying the hen to prepare the nest and lay the eggs for the eventual thrill of seeing the babies hatch and experiencing once more the motherly instincts so vital to the preservation of their offspring for another year.

In a world that seems to be spiralling downward in evil, spring reminds me again that we do live on a beautiful earth primed again for the display of life and vitality that gives us hope that some day we all will live in peace without fear, malice or hate. We need always to cling to that hope. Seeing nature raise itself to a newness of life each spring inspires faith in the immortality of our existence and that of all creatures living among us.

RAY SHEEN

One response to “Nature continues to amaze”

  1. Fedup Conservative says:

    Thanks Ray for posting this. We can’t wait to see them here in the Edmonton area.

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