A piece of heaven ..

A piece of heaven right here in my neighbourhood..

I now have a new appreciation for where I live. On a recent trip to the remote areas of Quebec I was expecting to see some wildlife and probably some birds. While the landscape was stunning and the greenery was refreshing, I was a bit disappointed that the only bird I saw in a few days was a woodpecker pecking on the dead tree stumps around the campfire in the backyard of our cottage. 

In contrast, an a regular morning walk close to my home in the suburbs, I will see the gulls, mourning doves, chickadees, American goldfinches, swallows, robins, crows, swarms of eastern starlings, sparrows, red cardinals, blue herons, mallard ducks, Canadian geese and occasionally the cedar waxwing, woodpeckers, killdeers, redwinged blackbirds, terns or even the extremely shy belted kingfisher all within the span of an hour...oh and did I miss the mute swans and the cormorants!!

Sadly urban developments in the area have destroyed the habitats of the birds forcing them all into this small wild area ..but adding much to my visual delight! I repeat what Amir Khusrau said in Farsi ..Agar firdaus war-rue zaminast hamin asto, hamin asto, hamin asto!

If there’s a heaven anywhere on earth, it is here, it is here, it is here....