NOW I CAN DIE HAPPY

Yup, I can die happy. I cannot ask for more. Not after I’ve seen what I’ve seen.  Some sights are so unexpected, so brief, and so breathtaking that you can’t move. Not even if a stag beetle is disappearing down inside your sock. Some sights leave you satisfied. Period.

I saw a baby green heron pierce, then break open her shell. It took her all morning. I was less than two-yards away in my kayak.

So I can die happy.

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I saw a pileated woodpecker land just outside our fence, then make its way through our woods. A pileated is up to 19-inches tall with a 29-inch wingspan. They own a huge territory, so you don’t see many. That’s why I shouted “Pileated!” into the phone as I hung up on my husband. You might see other large woodpeckers, such as the yellow-bellied sapsucker, and wonder if it's a pileated. When you actually see a pileated. you are done wondering. (Woody Woodpecker was a pileated.)

And that’s another reason why I can die happy.

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I sat in the middle of our woods. It was dead quiet. For no particular reason, I glanced up. There was a scarlet tanager, something I’d never seen. 

 So I can indeed die happy.

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dad

One day I was sitting on our porch, watching the birds at our feeder. Out of the blue––literally––a ball of apricot and gray fluff plopped into the garden in front of me. It was a baby Baltimore Oriole. Immediately his bright orange and black dad zoomed down to protect him. He nudged his baby to the fence and with a lot of effort, got him to hop up on the rail.  Dad caught a big white moth which wrapped around his face, completely covering it, He tried everything to get the baby to take the moth. And, one miracle on top of another, I happened to have my camera hanging around my neck. With a close-up lens. But––I cannot find those once in a lifetime pictures.

And yet, I can die happy.

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Just now, after looking for months,  I accidentally found the photo.

Really, I may die of happiness.

To hear a pileated woodpecker's call:

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Pileated_Woodpecker/id