The boys and I went for a walk yesterday. Despite the sunny blue sky, there was rain in the forecast so I opted to leave my camera at home. Storms have been known to blow up suddenly and I didn't want to be a mile from home with my poor exposed camera if the weather turned ugly.
Besides, I enjoy talking with the boys when we go for walks and didn't want to be distracted by looking for photo-ops. The last few times I brought my camera I hadn't had much luck. True, there were ducks, heron, and flowers, but I have enough pictures of ducks on the lake, heron across the lake, and close-up flower shots.
I didn't give my camera a second thought as we headed out around the lake. We were chatting pleasantly about all sorts of things. The sun was warm and the breeze was cool. Contrary to the weather report, the sky was a bright blue and the clouds were large, puffy and white.
As we rounded the farthest point of our walk (about three-quarters of a mile from home), the boys noticed a small object floating in the lake. There seemed to be something bobbing up and poking at it. As we got closer, whatever was under the water saw us and ducked back under.
It took a minute, but the head popped back up again, just as we realized what was floating on the water. It was a turtle popping his head up from below to nibble at a small, dead fish. Kind of gross, true, but an interesting sight!
The turtle and fish were just close enough that my telephoto would have captured a great shot. If it hadn't been nearly a mile away, at home in my camera bag.
We kept walking and talking about how it was such a shame that I hadn't brought my camera. A few minutes later, my oldest son stopped near some reeds and called us over. There was a female duck, like the countless we see everyday, but next to her was a tiny, fuzzy, baby duck!
The mama and her baby were only a few feet from us, right at the water's edge. When they spotted us, the mother duck led the way to the water and they slowly glided away, with the baby staying close to his mother's tail feathers.
Adorable! And no camera.
We walked on for several more minutes, again talking about not having my camera. We had just moved on to another subject when a shriek made me jump out of my skin! We were heading around a curve where bushes blocked the view of the upcoming path. My youngest was in the lead and we rushed to meet him after his surprised shriek.
There was a Great Blue Heron standing in the center of the path about six feet ahead of us! He was easily 3.5 to 4 feet tall (and probably had a wingspan of about 5 to 6 feet!). Apparently our shock scared him as well and he took off in a flurry of flapping feathers. He soared gracefully across the lake and circled the area before heading off to the distant edge.
I vowed to never go out without my camera again. But then we pondered the philosophical question that can never be answered: If I had taken the extra minute to get my camera, would we have been a moment too late to see these sights?
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