Walking in the woods on a sunny fall afternoon, I watched Kipper sniff a stump and a funny sound caught my ear. A breeze rustling the oak leaves and pine needles on the ground of an otherwise windless day.
I looked up to find a flock of turkeys shuffling into a thicker part of the forest to avoid our line of sight. Kipper's ears perked up as he too saw the birds. We proceeded down the trail noticing the swath of turned up duff and how it differed from the matted forest floor.
It is special to catch wildlife in its habitat. I regularly spend time in the woods and might catch a flash of the orange coat of a fox or the white tail of a deer running, but the experience is infrequent and always special. Turkeys are quick and can run up to 25 miles per hour if they need to get away. On this day, the turkeys chose to keep a watchful eye as we passed giving them a wide berth before turning off on another trail.
It was that ground breeze that sticks with me even now. A sound that seemed out of place and caused me to turn my head bringing me out of my thinking and into the present. So many moments come from turning my head at the right instance to catch something special. These moments bring smiles to my face and make me feel more connected to everything around me.
What "ground breeze" have you experienced lately that caused you to notice something you may otherwise have missed?