Article and Photography
By: Curtis Beaird
The hundred-foot pines behind our home and the underbrush they shade, is home to red-headed woodpeckers, red-naped sapsuckers, brown thrashers, the noisy and always aggravating grackle, white tail deer and a bunch of squirrels. Once, a broad-winged hawk paid us a visit.
Yesterday was special. Sleek and beautiful showed up to wait quietly, at least for most of a long moment in the open field alongside the pines. It was one we rarely see, a red fox. When he eased out of the trees and into the open, he took a few measured steps and stopped. He didn't look as though he intended to waste much time away from cover. But, he didn't seem all that much in a hurry either.
As he surveyed his surroundings, I watched him and wondered. If a fox could talk, what would he say? With grandchildren and the books you read to them, imagining talking animals is not all that hard to do. In fact, in a child's world, it happens all the time.
As the fox traversed the open field and eased his way through a wooded area, on to the pond for water, he left me this message:
Pay attention.
The direct route is not always the best route.
Avoid obvious traps.
When you move, move with dispatch.
Stealth is not always a bad thing.
Learn the value of being still.
Enjoy your goal when you reach it.
When you're done, leave.
I listened.
Copyright 2012, Curtis Beaird. All rights reserved.
