Author: Lazette Gifford (Nebraska, USA)
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Categories: [magic]  [nature]  [reflection]  

We often forget that the wild exists only a few steps beyond our world of computers and cars. Sometimes we casually observe it out at the birdfeeders and in the neatly trimmed trees. A person can spend a pleasant spring day watching the birds and squirrels squabble over the sunflower seeds, but we rarely consider that they have lives away from our offered treats.

Or perhaps, like me, you can hardly pass by a wildlife refuge without slipping in with a camera in hand, to see what might peak out from the woods or settle at the fringe of the ponds. Deer, turkey, pheasants, eagles, ducks, cranes, rabbits, turtles, frogs... Those are all easily within view on an afternoon at a place like De Soto National Wildlife Refuge in Nebraska. The days in this area of the world are filled the whisper of the wild world, hovering close by.

But then the sunset comes, a slow lengthening of shadows. There is no sudden shift from day to night here in the Midwest. The feral rooster that lives in our alley takes his time to find shelter for the night while the bunnies scatter to hollows beneath the bushes. The blue jays, cardinals, robins and grackles shout final defiance at each other in the fading light. The squirrels scramble up tree branches to their nests, fuzzy tails curled up around their noses, ears shifting at sounds that might be one of the stray cats climbing nearby.

Then the night settles over the town. There are other sounds out in the dark yard -- the whispery movement of damp leaves as slugs and night crawlers go about their business, and the louder scrabbling of a young possum on the old maple tree trunk. I can sit at the window and hear the sounds of the night world -- an owl, sometimes, in the distance, or the two mourning doves in the tree by the house.

Oh yes, and the raccoons. They live in the abandoned shed, and up in the trees. On rare nights you can see the tip of a ringed tail dashing across the road, but for such a large animal, they are relatively shy and unnoticed. Looking into that face at the window, I had to wonder what drew him to glance through the looking glass into my world -- well, besides the hope of more sunflower seeds.

The wild world is closer than you think.

And sometimes... sometimes the wild comes looking in at us.

Other submissions by this author: :  Touching History  ::  Life in Siouxland  ::  Winter  ::  The Amur Leopard  :

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