What wild creature is more accessible to our eyes and ears, as close to us and everyone in the world, as universal as a bird. – Sir David Attenborough, English biologist, natural history documentarian.

The caterpillar does all the work, but the butterfly gets all the publicity. – George Carlin, American comedian and social critic. (1937-2008)

From the kitchen window I could see past the back porch and down to the floating dock on the little pond. The wild cherry trees were heavy with limbs and leaves even though we’ve been in a serious drought for some time. There was one small opening, allowing me to see a white bird standing tall on the dock. I hollered at Sam, “I think there’s a grace bird on the dock.”

“That would be odd,” Sam answered, “they more often stalk their prey from the edge of the water.” The birds we call “grace birds” are actually snowy egrets. They are so beautiful and have such a slow graceful walk they could be ballerinas. Thus, the name we gave them. I took a picture from behind the door and showed it to Sam.

“Did you take it through the screen door?” he asked. I confessed I did. “If I had opened the screen door the bird would have flown off. It does it every time.” We enlarged the photo and saw the bird was very obviously a lone white Ibis. Once before we had a flock of Ibises. The bird has a long curved red bill and red spindly legs. The feathers are white with black tips on the wings. The Ibis is a beautiful bird. They normally travel in flocks but our Ibis has been alone for days now. She often perches on the handrails pacing back and forth. Eventually she will take flight to the shore opposite the dock where the drought has exposed mudflats. As of yet I have not seen her catch a fish. Perhaps it’s just a quiet resting place.

Along with the Ibis there’s a dark gray feathered bird that also lands on the dock. I brought out my Sibley’s Guide to Birds and looked under “shorebirds.” None of the birds pictured were like my bird so I went to the table of contents. “Wading birds.” Yes, that was it. Turning the pages there it was-the adult Little Blue Heron. Sibley’s said the Little Blue Heron likes fresh water with emergent vegetation, a description fitting to the pond.

Another little creature showed up in the perennial garden. As I went to feed the goldfish, I noticed the parsley over by the fence was being stripped. There on a stem was a caterpillar. He was mostly a bright green blending right into the green stems. At each segment on his body was a black ring. He was really a most beautiful creature even though he had stripped clean my parsley. Once source called the caterpillar a “parsley worm.” Another, the caterpillar stage of a Black Swallowtail butterfly. I posted a photo on Instagram where a friend responded. You can keep the caterpillar and observe it transition to a butterfly, “It really is fun to watch God’s miracle unfold in these caterpillars,” she wrote. I considered doing just that only when I returned to the garden both the caterpillar and the parsley had vanished.         

Shannon Bardwell is a writer living quietly in the Prairie. Email reaches her at [email protected].