The Pond

I have a 40 minute commute to work and every day I pass this "pond". The water comes almost up to the road and it's really kind of an eerie looking body of water. It's very rustic and surrounded by brush and trees. There are trees that have fallen into the water and the water is muddy looking. I'm not sure if you can even get to it from the adjoining forest preserve park or not. I have never seen a person in the vicinity.

The area happens to be very attractive to the herons and egrets...the great big awesome birds. I can't even begin to tell you how much I LOVE those birds. I practically run my car off the road if I see one flying overhead because I want to watch it until it is out of sight. If I see one standing by any body of water I drive by, I just want to pull over and sit and stare.

I'm not sure where my love of these big birds came from, but it is probably just an extension of my love of animals.

If you have never seen a heron standing in it's nest it is quite a site. These gigantic birds have nests in the very top of the tree branches and I always wonder how the little branches can handle the nest and the bird standing in it. It's quite a site to see in the spring before the trees have leaves. There are dozens of nests in the trees, just like in the picture to the right. I wish I had a good camera so I could take pictures of them. Today's pictures are courtesy of Wikipedia.

Back to the "pond"....a couple of weeks ago I was driving past the pond and I really did almost drive off the road! There around the shore of the pond were at least six gorgeous herons and two beautiful egrets. It was as though they had convened for an important meeting or something. There are days when I might see one, maybe two along the shore, but eight amazing birds at one time was quite a sight to behold!

The wonderful birds took my breath away. I actually got choked up and almost cried. It was just the most amazing thing to see. I wanted so badly to pull over and just sit and watch them all, but there is no shoulder on that road and traffic is heavy in the morning....so I was forced to drive by.

I had to share my story with someone, but not many people I know would be moved by the things that move me. I e-mailed Irv as soon as I got to work to tell him because I knew he would at least say that it was cool, and then I e-mailed Matt because I knew he would understand...and he did. He told me there are times when he is walking home from work that he will see something that strikes him like that and will almost bring him to tears.

The picture is sketched into my brain and it is something I will never ever forget.