Walking along my regular route of gravel country road the other day I noticed two ducks had taken up residence in the pasture pond a quarter of a mile down on the left. The ducks were swimming in this small, algae and scruff brush filled water body contentedly.
Wood Ducks, Kellogg Creek, Milwaukie, OR; Copyright: Steve Berliner
One duck was beautiful, with all the colors and markings you see in the pictures and decoys at a sporting goods store and the other duck was an ordinary, nothing special brown.
I’ve read somewhere that the male birds are the beautiful ones however I can’t recall why. The two of them looked like a couple and I imagined that they were on their honeymoon, or that they wanted to get away and be together, were there chicks in the near future? After all it’s spring and the countryside is going to be filled with new life in the next months.
As I pondered these ducks I began to wonder what they must see when they look at each other – since so many times what we see in others, both of pleasure and disdain, we are mirrored to ourselves. Does the beautiful bird look out at the plain bird and think, “What a warm and inviting bird? How soft the brown feathers, how easy to the eye and heart to be around and feel love and attraction?” What about the plain bird? Does she look out at the beautiful bird and think, “Wow! This bird is so spectacular – I must be spectacular too – or I can’t believe he’s interested in me?”
Do each of them see themselves in the other? Since ducks don’t have mirrors and animals in general aren’t known to be egomaniacal – it got my brain to thinking which is why, besides the health benefit, I walk. These two birds, with the ability to fly, settled in this out of the way, nothing grand about it pasture pond seem so happy – what a gift to see them, to imagine things about them – mostly to enjoy that they are together regardless of appearances giving pleasure to whomever happens to be wandering by.
Riches confront my eyes and delight my senses – how blessed is that?
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