Infinite Space

This morning I went off by myself to look for nests at the Leslie Street Spit baselands, a former landfill that has turning into a tiny wilderness oasis.
I wandered for over an hour and didn't see a single other person. That is so rare for me. I went down the paths that I wanted, stopped when I wanted, free.

I called birds. I saw a gorgeous American Redstart, heard the last of the migrating Blackpoll Warblers and heard a cuckoo (a fairly rare bird). I enjoyed experiencing the nesting birds going about their business - Least and Willow Flycatchers, Yellow Warblers, cardinals, robins, red-winged blackbirds, catbirds and cowbirds waiting to drop their eggs in other bird's nests.

Over this flower covered hill lies the city but I couldn't see it and I couldn't hear it, so for me it wasn't there. I thought about how we think whatever we see around us goes on forever. Whether it's true or not.

It wasn't all peace and beauty. There are fire ants down there. At one point I sat down to photograph a spider web and they crawled up my butt and started biting my waist. YOUCH!!!! They live up to their name. And it's nice to be able to leave the wilderness to get back to my nice clean, fire ant free house!

P.S. I put an entry in my blipfolio that expresses the feeling of wide open spaces from by day yesterday. I didn't think yesterday's blip really captured all of the magic of the place for me.