Twice this week I’ve been glad to have my monocular (a.k.a. spyglass) with me on hikes. Today I got a good, long look at a green heron in a marsh on Crabtree Creek, standing in patient fishing pose: hunched, dwarfish, dark, and for a moment wildly crowned, but with those unmistakable deadly heron eyes. Tuesday I saw a snake come out of Falls Lake with a fish in its jaws and sit at the water’s edge a minute. Probably a copperhead but the shadows of the leaves threw their own patterns and I wouldn’t swear it wasn’t a Northern water snake. Apparently I’m the only one not fishing.

I’m not much of a gearhead and don’t like carrying extra stuff with me when I’m walking, but I have really enjoyed having the lens. (More than I would enjoy carrying a camera with a telephoto lens, so: no pictures. Sorry.)