Beauty in the Everyday

     I visited Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area for an hour and a half on November 6 of this year to see what water birds were on the various human-made impoundments.  Several kinds of the usual birds were there for this time of year, including hundreds of Canada geese on the water and in the air, accompanied by their excited and exciting honking.
     There were the usual kinds of puddle ducks, for Middle Creek, on those impoundments.  A couple dozen black ducks were scattered on a few ponds and the main lake and about 12 mallard ducks were all in one group on one pond.  And there were a few individuals each of northern pintails, gadwalls and northern shovelers on a couple small impoundments. 
     I saw two kinds of diving ducks at Middle Creek, including about 20 each of ring-necked ducks and bufflehead ducks.  There was an equal number of males and females among the ring-necks on one pond, but mostly female buffleheads on another small impoundment.  Both these kinds of ducks were entertaining to watch diving and surfacing as they swam to the bottom of the impoundments to bring up aquatic vegetation to eat.
     And there were three types of fish-eating birds visible at Middle Creek.  Three double-crested cormorants roosted on tree stumps in a shallow part of the main lake.  Apparently, they were resting between fishing forays.  I saw at least six stately great blue herons wading slowly, carefully in the shallows of the big lake to snare fish, while an immature bald eagle perched majestically on a limb of golden leaves in a large, shoreline tree.  
     While watching, close at hand, scattered groups of Canada geese and black ducks resting quietly and peacefully in the gray shallows of the main lake under gray skies and against the deciduous woodland that still had some colored foliage along that impoundment's southern shore, I suddenly realized I was looking at an everyday, but beautiful scene suitable for painting or photographing.  The resting gray geese and dark ducks blended into the water, dead tree stumps in the shallows and dead trees that fell into the water near the shoreline, making them barely visible with the naked eye at first.  Some of the geese and ducks sat on the dead stumps and fallen trees, while others of both species floated on the water.  Meanwhile, a couple of great blues stalked fish among the stumps, fallen logs and waterfowl, while the camouflaged, but regal eagle seemed to survey his domain.
     The somber feathering of the geese, ducks, herons and eagle all blended into their gray and dark-brown autumn and winter surroundings.  Yet all those birds and their gray-brown surroundings were attractive in their simplicity, and utility to hide the birds in their niches.  The water, dead trees and large water birds all fit together, as the birds fit perfectly in their habitat.  And everything together made a pretty picture that I carry in my memory.     
     There are innumerable, beautiful pictures of everyday landscapes, plants and wildlife throughout the world that are worthy of painting or photographing.  One only has to have the God-given ability to see beauty in those commonplace settings.  And there is a comfort in viewing ordinary beauties close to home.      
     Look for the beauties and intrigues of the common, everyday plants and wildlife in any habitat you happen to be in.  There is as much beauty in nature at home as anywhere else on Earth.  One just has to look for it.