A Walk

Trail Wood #68 Earl Plato

On the Trail with Edwin Teale in early April. “Circling the pond on the muddy path at its edge I see tiny “tack heads” - minnows of the golden shiners - swimming in schools beside Turtle Rock, where turtles sun themselves on August days. Close by I notice submerged curtains of early-forming algae, diaphanous, slowly waving in the water in pulsations, shimmering in green aurora. Calling back and forth while keeping apart, two white-breasted nuthatches, in a kind if solitary sociability, are “yanking” among the wet trees of Azalea Shore. A little later as I top the rise and reach the open fields I see a red-shouldered hawk sail the length of the Starfield and curve away down the edge of the woods.”