Winter Solitude

Williamwisephoto Nature Notes is a wildlife, landscape, birding and nature photography blog documenting the beauty, design and wonder of God’s creation. -- Luke 1:80 "The little boy greatly loved God and when he grew up he lived out in the lonely wilderness..."

Great Blue Heron fishing in the reeds on a pond in Walton County Georgia

Winter’s chill is settling in. Condensing mists rise from the warmer waters into the cooling air. The sun remains at a low angle late into the morning, casting contrasting warm beams and cool blue shadows across the landscape.  A Great Blue Heron scans the waters in solitude. His searches more and more are in vain compared to the last months as the fish retreat to the warmer depths.

Isolation… winter seems to bring it about. Soft-natured humans retreat to their heated interiors; the gay birds that have brightened our summer have departed to warmer southern climes. We are left to ourselves; often left alone.

But the isolated place need not be lonely. Often, the creatures that prefer remoteness retreat to the isolated area. When we blend in, donning our camouflage or entering our blind, we often find the isolated areas aren’t so desolate. The shy mammals, the reclusive rodents, the timorous avians all come out to feed and play when man, the top of the food chain, is not present.
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So, embrace the solitude; seek it out. Blend in and wait. You never know what will come out of the shadows. 

Mallard drake; Walton County, Georgia. November 14, 2013.