This last time visiting Blunn Creek was bitter sweet. I remember going there since my freshman year of college, and now I am graduating in two days. It’s funny how in all the times I went there previously, I never really took the time to observe the small things around me. Now I see the slightest changes, more animals, more plants, less garbage. On May 8th around 7:30 am, the air in Blunn Creek was thick and humid because of the imminent rain. It was 75 degrees and as the weather app calls it, “hazy.” One of the first things that I saw when entering the reserve was the increase in wildlife. There were wild flowers growing at the entrance, a sure sign of spring. I continued to walk down to my spot by the stream. I saw the first stream and was immediately surprised at how much water was in it. It hadn’t even rained yet! Another difference was that the waterfall was not quite as loud or fast as it has been in the past. I crossed over to the second stream and was disappointed to see that things haven’t changed much on this side. If anything, there is less water here. Walking further east on this part, there is a sitting pool of water that is covered with a thick layer of pond scum. One of my favorite things that I saw today, or rather heard, was the chirping sound of several birds. Take a listen! They had a methodical rapport that I found soothing in the morning. I haven’t seen or heard many animals there in the past. These sounds remind me of a quote from A Sand County Almanac. “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.” I started coming to Blunn Creek because I thought it was so cool that it was part of a volcano. I didn’t know that I could learn so much without someone telling it to me or reading it on the internet. Yet, all this time I spent simply observing the beauty of nature, I gained insight from silence and sounds around me. 
Chirping Birds
