One More Perspective

I walk through an urban forest most every day.  It is a paved bicycle path with tall trees and natural brush along the way.  I am on my fourth season of doing so; I have walked it in 96 degrees Fahrenheit and in 18 inches of snow, as first footprints.  I have marveled at the transformation from winter’s slumber to spring’s buzz marked by the emergence of baby wildlife, with bunnies as greatest in numbers.  In June and July, I marveled at the chaotic presence the bunnies, darting back-and-forth or chomping down within inches of the tar edge as if I and others weren’t speeding by. 

It’s now late August and everything is different.  I can spot the occasional red and yellow leaf on the ground foreshadowing the coming season.  Baby bunnies are rare, and youthful bunnies are tough to spot.  Big bunnies have all but disappeared.  I became fascinated by this.  Some of it is self-explanatory:  the great circle of life has certainly been busy culling their numbers, so it’s those still kicking that are of most interest to me.  They are who learned and adapted.