One of the pleasant things about birding is that it is done outdoors, in the midst of nature, where anything might happen. Today, under blue skies and sun, an everyday event occurred in the meadow near the old farm site adjacent to the Mystery Trail that I felt privileged experience.


When returning from an attempt to find the golden-winged warbler again (there yesterday (thanks Bill); not today), a dark brown rodent jumped out of the tall grass and ran several steps down the path toward me. It stopped about 25 ft away, face on, occupying a large proportion of my binocular field of view. After a minute or more, I took several slow steps forward and the meadow vole (a large one) obligingly re-oriented, providing a nice broadside view. Raising my binocs to better the moment, my eyes were just focusing on the animal when a long-tailed weasel slammed into the field of view from behind and to the right, killing the vole for a late breakfast, before disappearing into the grass to the left. All under 2 sec. Nature at work. Spectacular!


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