The world is full
I didn’t spot this spider at first, and I bet the wasp didn’t either.
Crab spider by Jeffrey C. Oliver, CC by SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”
— W. B. Yeats
Awhile back we had an interesting discussion with Boomdee in the comments after she mentioned the rabbits in her world changing colors with the seasons. Until then, I didn’t know about the Snowshoe Hare, which turns white in winter as a form of camouflage in snowy areas. I was enchanted to think of a rabbit that changes color, because I’d never heard of one doing that before. My experience with color-changing animals is pretty much limited to small lizards.
Apparently, rabbits don’t need that flexible sort of camouflage to flourish in Virginia. They are everywhere, and usually I notice them by the way that they move. Not always, though.
One gorgeous evening last spring I went out to make a quick film clip of the world as it looked from our little porch in Alexandria. The birds were singing and the azaleas were blooming, and the little creek behind our home was making that lovely rushing sound that always comes after a nice rainfall. With all this to distract me, I didn’t notice what was hiding in plain sight until I watched the clip nine months later. See if you spot what I missed (the pause button helps):
Let’s take a cue from Sherlock Holmes and sharpen our senses to see what else we are missing. What secrets might nature be hiding in your neighborhood?
This post was first published seven years ago today. Because that year (2016) was a leap year, and this one is not, there will be a shift in the days each post is re-published for the remainder of the year. Just in case anyone notices, you’ll now find that they will appear on Tuesdays and Fridays.
The original post, comments and photo are linked, along with two other related posts, below. These links to related posts, and their thumbnail photos, do not appear in the blog feed; they are only visible when viewing the individual posts by clicking on each one. I have no idea why, nor do I know how they choose the related posts. That’s just the way WordPress does things.
- Posted in: Uncategorized
- Tagged: animals, awareness, camouflage, flowers, hidden, mindfulness, nature, notice, outdoors, rabbits, seeing, senses, springtime, surprises
Defeat Despair 
I had to enlarge the photo before I finally spied the spider and it almost made me jump. Then in the regular sized photo, I could easily see it. I tried your home video and had to watch it twice to be sure I saw what I think must have been the front part of a bunny. Thank you for the early morning fun with “I spy!”
Judy, I was the same way with that spider. It was kind of like a horror movie or something. Yes, it was a bunny that photo-bombed my video. So precious that it was sitting there motionless. Jeff was amazing at being able to spot wildlife (something Matthew often does too) so I wonder how much I have missed now that I don’t have Jeff here to point things out to me.
Julia,
I guess I’m no Sherlock Holms. Need your help on this one. I think I was enjoying the chirping of the birds and sound of the water moving. The only conclusion I can draw is that I was observant. But to sound rather than sight.
-Alan
Alan, when I read your comment I went back to tell you exactly how far into the video you need to pause it (it’s 6 seconds in) to see the bunny. However, to my extreme irritation, when I go back to the post now the video has totally disappeared from the post, in both original and re-published versions! They must have done something to the interface with YouTube. They are always making unwanted changes to the WordPress software and this is one reason why I rarely post anymore. But it sounds as if you did get to see the video before it disappeared, since you heard the birds and the brook. I don’t have time to figure out what happened but maybe I can go back and fix it somehow. But I didn’t to anything to break it! GRRRR! Oh well, at least you did get to see it.