Thursday, March 19, 2009

Another River View

Here we are perched seven stories over another river, watching the wildlife and the water traffic. This river is quite different from my river. For one thing, it is over a mile wide and I am on the mouth that feeds into the Gulf of Mexico. We also see a lot of water traffic, kayaks, dories, skiffs, motor boats, fishing boats, mini-yachts, cigar boats, yachts, sailboats, windsurfers, schooners and mega-yachts. It is fascinating to wonder where everyone is going and for how long.

As for wildlife, we are watching a large variety of sea birds, terns, gulls, sea eagles, plovers and several nests of osprey. The osprey nest nearest us has two adults and two chicks that are as large as their parents. They now look identical to them and spend a great deal of time on the edge of the towering bundle of sticks, flapping and stretching. It seems that any moment they will be taking off into the air.

No matter where you go, you see all the differences of a place: different foliage, trees and flowers; different birds, animals and insects (not to mention alligators); different light.

There is one thing that doesn't seem to change. The ebbing and flowing, growing and waning of life.