Brewster's Woods, Concord, Massachusetts
Wood Ducks are hard to see.
They come here for the summer,
find their homes in overgrown swampy ponds,
where lilies like to settle and bloom at the same time.
I wonder how it may feel to be in their place?
Obscured by the bushes.
Relaxing on the fallen tree trunk.
Floating in silence, through reflections.
All is so close to the eyes and touch.
Must be a paradise...
Waseeka Wildlife Sanctuary, Massachusetts
Waseeka revolves around the pond,
a project in works for humans, a beaver, and a pair of Ospreys.
Mass Audubon, the owners of Sanctuary, came up with the idea to make a pond for nature.
And then the beaver joined in and they formed a partnership,
expanding this eco-system,
accessible to all who love water.
A pair of Ospreys,
in search of the perfect nesting ground, flew over and built a nest for the ages.
And they are HERE again, watching...
I return a smile....
... I derive more of my subsistence from the swamps which surround my native town than from the cultivated gardens in the village... Why not put my house, my parlor, behind this plot, instead of behind that meager assemblage of curiosities, that poor apology for Nature and Art, which I call my front yard?... Yes, though you may think me perverse, if it were proposed to me to dwell in the neighborhood of the most beautiful garden that ever human art contrived, or else of a Dismal Swamp, I should certainly decide for the swamp...
HENRY DAVID THOREAU
