Natural Patterns of Behavior

It's always interesting to start and end the day at the marsh. Usually I'm alone in the morning. Just me and the binoculars and scope and whatever birds or animals are to be found.

Come evening it's usually my wife and our dog, Chuck, whose business it is to smell absolutely everything in the entire universe. Other dog poop. Rabbit trails. Who knows what else? For the first time the other day he literally threw himself into the prairie thinking he heard something worth chasing. It was nothing but a bunch of tree sparrows. As he climbed back out he looked quite satisfied at having investigated on thoroughly doggy terms. I could learn a lot from Chuck.

Have you ever stopped to think that a park is a different place when you're alone than when you're in the company of someone else?

I don't prefer one over the other. But when you're alone you should always prefer to be alone. And when you're with someone you should try to share your attention. It does no good to pine for company when there is none. And it does no good to wish you were alone when someone you love is with you.

Yet I think many of us find ourselves with twisted impulses when we go out in the field. It's sort of like we aren't happy unless we're longing for something else. Maybe it makes us feel more important than we are.

I'm always grateful when I go to the woods alone and there's actually something good to see. But it doesn't always happen. Sometimes you're alone and the woods and prairies seem to have nothing to give. Or a frozen over lake make you feel frozen over yourself.

That's when I resort to looking at the patterns of nature for company and solace. Because patterns can always be found. And when I pay attention to those things I am always (and forever) rewarded. Consider the photo at the top of this blog. I love the many processes that went into turning those grasses into a piled up world unto themselves. Wind. Rain. Sun. Soil. Perhaps an animal or two. I was following a deer trail when I discovered this pattern in the weeds, out in the middle of Nelson Lake Marsh.

When you are in the company of others the process of seeing things takes the form of shared observations. My wife is not that into birds, but will stop to enjoy something novel if I point it out. Yet she often sees more than I do when we do get out. Things I've missed, including birds.

And that is why you have to enjoy the company of others even if you're a loner by nature. Because you can't possibly see everything on your own. Or enjoy it fully.