The beauty of nature is unfound elsewhere. We humans can only aspire to imitate nature and the beauty that we find there. This makes it even sadder when we realise the destruction we humans cause. But not focussing on that today, I want to share with you again the beauty of the Cape Spurfowl that visit our gardens every so often. I also took a video of it drinking some water!
There are rare moments in which we are treated by nature's visit. I always try to cherish these moments, because, in their fleeting nature, they gain a certain gravity that if missed we will never again experience.
It is like a world that becomes forever lost when we do not appreciate them.
By no means should they be experienced and viewed to gain importance. This would amount to a certain human-centrism that I do not want to promote. No, it is not like a world is lost because I did not view it (akin to the internet joke about the youth that lives along the lines of "if it was not posted onto social media it did not happen).
What I am instead trying to claim is that if we do not attune our vision to lock onto these moments, we lose something special that could have emerged from within us. It is not that the outside world would lose some sense of importance, akin to the human-centrism I am not arguing for.
It is rather that something internal to our lived experience becomes somewhat poorer, less colourful, and not as good as it could have been.
The patterns on their feathers are intricate, complex and beautiful. Sometimes you find a feather in the grass as you walk in the garden.
It is a reminder of art that can be found in the most of mundane places.
But are these places mundane though? For us, it is a mere lawn that no one really visits. But for these birds, it is a home, a place for food, a place where they raise the young, a place that we stole from them and took away most of what there was in the past.
But in the same breath, we do create safe spaces for them to roam in albeit nothing that comes close to what they could have if we did not steal what essentially belonged to no one. (Even this might come over as a contradiction, but let us not get too philosophical at this place).
Alas, we can appreciate what we have and share it in a way that will benefit those who come to visit and those who try to stay a while longer.
Alas, we can only appreciate what we cultivate, what we allow to organically grow. For the more we try and control, the less beauty will come. The only thing that can grow from our hubris is destruction.
For now, happy birding and keep well!
All of the musings and writings are my own. The video was taken with my Nikon D3200 and Tamron 300mm lens. The photographs were taken with my Nikon D300 and Tamron 300mm zoom lens.