Photo: Yellow Flag Irises, Tom Blackburn
By Tom Blackburn
Last week, I decided to change my exercise routine by taking my kayak to Mason Neck State Park. But when I got into the boat my workout plans faded away, overwhelmed by the quiet beauty of a cloudless, balmy morning.
Paddling slowly gave me an opportunity to fully experience my surroundings. The Osprey platform by the Visitor Center was empty. This year, as happened in the two previous years, a pair of Canada Geese fought off the Ospreys and hatched a brood of goslings 60 feet above the ground. The geese are gone, of course; the young left the platform just a few hours after hatching for the hazardous trip to the ground. But by then it was too late for the Osprey to nest there. However, Osprey were nesting on several platforms in nearby Belmont Bay.
As I quietly made my way along the shoreline, a Bald Eagle flew up from a nearby log, carrying a fish; I had disturbed his breakfast. Later, I watched a Great Blue Heron point its bill skyward, the better to let its morning catch slip down its throat. Hundreds of tiny fish rippled the water ahead of me, some taking briefly to the air to escape my boat. I watched a Green Heron land on the bank of Kane’s Creek and immediately melt into the shadows of the grasses along the shore. Painted turtles completely covered some of the half-submerged logs, warming up in the morning sun. Early-season dragonflies zipped above the water.
Painted Turtles, Tom Blackburn
Flowering plants also caught my attention. Yellow flag irises are not native, but they have been in the area for more than 200 years, and they are spectacular on the edges of the park’s ponds. The golf ball-sized yellow blooms of spatterdock (a type of water lily with leaves standing well above the surface of the water) brightened their green leaves in the creek. And on the shore, I spotted early mountain laurel blooms. In another week they will turn the hillside a delicate pink.
Over the years in the park, I have watched fawns timidly venture to the water’s edge for a drink; a group of fox kits pounce into each rain puddle as they walked down a path followed by the vixen, while the male watched warily from the bushes; heard coyotes howling from the woods; surprised a Longnose Gar in the shallows; and been shepherded out of the creek by a beaver that repeatedly slapped its tail to show its irritation at my presence. Each time, I was moving slowly and observantly instead of focusing on getting from one place to another. I am constantly reminded that in nature it’s not necessarily about the destination – it’s about the journey. I hope that you have opportunities to quietly observe the natural world and that it eases your mind and restores your soul, as it does for me.