Success

My big success for the day was capturing a phoebe fledgling at twilight with the new camera. Again, not such a crystal clear lens, but clearly a juvenile phoebe. Several of them and at least one parent were flying around the house this evening. If I should die tomorrow, I’m grateful tonight for my private success of raising at least one little bird, or helping to, anyway. We are a brutal species, in a brutal cycle, on this fragile planet. There were other quotidian delights today as well. These moments are not how society generally measures success.

The mangy doe grooms herself under the Buddleia alternifolia. Maybe she’s just molting.

5 thoughts on “Success

  1. Thanks for your lovely post, Rita. Your allusion to conventional measures of success reminded me indirectly of a Czeslaw Milosz quotation that another friend posted on her blog today. It’s from a piece called “My Intention,” in _To Begin Where I Am: Selected Essays_:
    “…when the air is filled with the clamor of analysis and conclusion, would it be entirely useless to admit you do not understand?”

  2. Beautiful photos, Sweeta. And congrats on your fledging Phoebes, as well as understanding true success. xoxo

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