“Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins, as in art, with the pretty. It expands through successive stages of the beautiful to values as yet uncaptured by language.” – Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac
I started going to Red Bud Isle for fun back in October, so I can now officially say that I’ve seen the area during every season (since Texas seems to really only have two – winter and summer). It’s pretty amazing seeing the changes in color and life around here. I’ve never really taken the time to reflect on the changes of the landscape around me, so it’s a nice change to actually take note of things like that (I guess this nature blog is serving it’s purpose, huh?). In all seriousness, I’m starting to truly admire what’s around me and look deeper rather than just seeing things and saying “that’s pretty.”
For five months I’ve been going here. I’ve walked nearly all of Red Bud’s trails, sat under many of its trees, and spent what is probably a couple days’ worth of time there. This month, I wanted to change things up a bit! Not by going to a different location, but by viewing the area from a different perspective: the water! My friend (and fellow nature-adventurer person) Kate wanted to do something fun and different, so we took a couple of kayaks down the river near Zilker, and made our way all the way down to Red Bud Isle! Let me tell you, the view of the isle is pretty amazing, especially in spring:
A lot has changed since February. After coming back from spring break, everything seemed to spring to life (including my allergies, but that doesn’t keep me from going outside!). Viewing the Isle from the water, I was able to get an outside look on the plant and animal life on and around the area. There were a lot more ducks, birds, and turtles than I had ever seen during my observations this semester! My hypothesis is that most of these animals live on the land areas surrounding the isle since a lot of human activity occurs on the the isle itself. Plus this is the first time I’ve been out here all semester when the weather has been nice and warm, which definitely makes seeing cold-blooded animals such as the turtles more common!
It was about a 2 mile trip from the boat rental to Red Bud, so I had some sore shoulders by the time we were done, but it was nice getting a different view of the Isle and definitely gave me an understanding of the life around the area! Ever since the weather got warmer and sunnier I’ve been able to spend a lot of time outside, and I find myself wanting to be outdoors more and more often now. In my last post, I noted that I was generally happier and more relaxed if I spent time outside during the day; now I find it to almost be a necessity (especially with the weather lately). This assignment has honestly turned more into a hobby/fun activity!
