A Wood Duck as Shy as Me

 

A shy wood duck doesn't know what
to make of the world.

Maybe you've had days like this.

You don't want to get out of bed. The world seems a horrible place to be. Your feet ache, your head feels like a balloon filled with Covid or maybe that smelly cheese you ate last night and your stomach feels like Mount Vesuvius.

You're not alone.

Everybody in the natural world feels like that now and then.

I saw this wood duck slap down in the pond as I was photographing in the bird blind. I was taking the day off because I felt as described above. It was the first nice day of spring, and I had had it with just about everything. I wanted to zone out at the bird blind and do nothing but take photos of beautiful creatures.

I thought I found a kindred soul in the wood duck.

These birds are some of most attractive around here, maybe in the world. This male was the first I've seen this year, so it was a thrill just so see him splash down.

But there was something wrong.

He didn't want to come out in the open and let me photograph him. He simply swam around in the debris and branches of the pond and didn't climb up out of it to feed at the bird blind. Wood ducks I've seen here before usually do.

After all, how much food can there be in the pond for a duck. The pond was barely alive in early spring. I thought he'd have to come up out of the pond.

He didn't.

This wood duck won't leave the pond.
 Is he paranoid?

He simply stayed for a long time floating at the edge of the pond, looking longingly at the bird seed on the ground just a few feet away. He wouldn't be tempted. I had to fiddle with the camera to get the longest zoom possible out of it.

He wouldn't come closer.

I realized he felt as I had in bed that morning. We're reflected in nature, and nature is reflected in us. The creatures of the world have the same pains and problems we do, and they lead to the same fears and reluctance and anxieties we have.

Just by getting his photographs, I had a better day than he did.

I got out of bed and got some beautiful shots of him, while he let his fear and pain overcome him.

I hope he got something good to eat in the pond.

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