{"id":2664,"date":"2013-07-06T11:25:29","date_gmt":"2013-07-06T16:25:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/?p=2664"},"modified":"2014-01-22T16:07:22","modified_gmt":"2014-01-22T22:07:22","slug":"spring-peeper-meadow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/?p=2664","title":{"rendered":"Spring Peeper Meadow"},"content":{"rendered":"

June 26, 2013<\/p>\n

There it was on Jessica\u2019s shirt collar, and then it started slowly walking up her hair. It was a new-born meadowhawk dragonfly that had just hatched into an adult.\u00a0 We felt a very special connection between the three of us and the dragonfly. Janine got within 2 feet of it and saw\u00a0 the beautiful patterning of the wing in the morning light. Then the meadowhawk lifted up and circled over our heads. We stood there watching the new born’s wobbly flight. From behind us came a fast flying tree swallow, who effortlessly grabbed and consumed the young dragonfly. Just one minute before, the dragonfly had been resting safely in Jessica\u2019s hair, and now it was no more. I felt sad that the little guy was eaten, and did not have a chance to finish its life cycle. I felt angry at the swallow for eating the dragonfly, even though it was just trying to sustain itself or its young in the nest. But mostly I felt deeply touched to be a witness to this natural event. Death and life connected; predator and prey. It was an excellent teaching, and allowed me to see into a window that I did not know was there. There was no funeral to honor the little dragonfly. One second it was fluttering around and the next it was in the tree swallow\u2019s mouth. Nature is a powerful force; life and death connected, always moving and changing.<\/p>\n

\"DragonflyHair\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Janine Pung was also touched by the experience and wrote the following poem about the morning hike.<\/p>\n

Where Does Beauty Hide?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 in the magical meadow<\/p>\n

in the ethereal foliage<\/p>\n

in the splashes of color amid the green.<\/p>\n

\nWhere does beauty hide?<\/strong><\/p>\n

in the cricket\u2019s chorus<\/p>\n

in the bird\u2019s watery sound<\/p>\n

in the soulful silence around every corner of the trail<\/p>\n

\nWhere does beauty hide?<\/strong><\/p>\n

in the fragile dragonfly nymph<\/p>\n

\nin the tree swallow’s swoop<\/p>\n

\nin the opportunity to witness the cycle of life<\/p>\n

Where does beauty hide?<\/strong><\/p>\n

in the bouquet of a single flower<\/p>\n

in the grace of a dragonfly grove<\/p>\n

\nin the tattered, spotted feather of an owl<\/p>\n

\nWhere does beauty hide?\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

in the dynamic, yet peaceful energy of this wetland<\/p>\n

\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

June 26, 2013 There it was on Jessica\u2019s shirt collar, and then it started slowly walking up her hair. It was a new-born meadowhawk dragonfly that had just hatched into an adult.\u00a0 We felt a very special connection between the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insects","category-nature-notes"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2664"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2667,"href":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2664\/revisions\/2667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}