I am guilty, as most of us are, of opening the Africam front page and scanning to see if there were any big sightings while I wasn't around. Quite often there was, especially this past month with lions galore. Its just amazing that we can see whats happening in the wilds of Africa just by turning on the computer, all while we sip our favorite beverage in the comfort of our homes.  But....
There is another spot of nature that is quite often overlooked. No, not another website, but something we often forget we have...our own backyards, gardens, or parks.  Oh jeez, those are boring you say? Well wait a minute..let me tell you what I saw this morning in my own backyard....
I woke up just a bit past sunrise and could hear the birds singing in the distance. I made coffee, and opened the curtains to the window overlooking my backyard. I have a bird-feeder there, surrounded by sunflowers that happened to grow after seeds fell out of it. The flowers are in different stages of growth, some still opening and some already hanging their heads with seeds buried inside their shriveled up petals. A male cardinal, a beautiful red feathered bird, was helping himself to the seeds, as he does on a regular basis.  Soon his wife joined him, a pretty female with less coloring, as she needs to blend in with her surroundings when incubating her eggs and tending her new brood. They are quite shy birds and the slightest movement or noise sends them flying back to the safety of my big maple trees on the other side of the yard. But I didn't' move, so they stayed and enjoyed the seeds.
This morning was different...I sipped my coffee and watched the pair, when I saw another bird land in the sunflowers. His coloring was a soft brown, and the cardinals didn't' chase him away. While I was trying to figure out what kind of bird it was,another joined him, and I realized they were the offspring of the adult pair.  The mother bird took to flight and went from the trees to the fence, to the roof and around again, perhaps staying on the lookout to protect her fledged babies from harm.  The father, in his glorious red plumage picked up a millet seed and  fluttered down into the sunflowers and fed the baby. He did this a number of times, alternating which baby he fed. This went on for some time until they had their fill and moved on with Mama bird leading the way and Dad following with the babies in between the two.
I smiled and realized I had just witnessed a tiny piece of a huge picture. Nature presents itself all around me even when I don't' take the time to look.
While the lions and other attention grabbing animals on the cams are spectacular, I was reminded that every little part of nature not only has a grand place in its surroundings, but provides us with spectacular moments of beauty and awe.

“Look at the trees, look at the birds, look at the clouds, look at the stars...and if you have eyes you will be able to see that the whole existence is joyful. Everything is simply happy. Trees are happy for no reason; they are not going to become prime minister or presidents and they are not going to become rich and they will never have any bank balance. Look at the flowers – for no reason. It is simply unbelievable how happy flowers are.” - Osho

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