"Determined Mama"

Those feet threaten to outshine all around them (There is a down to earth whimsy about the plant like feet of coots that has always drawn me in.). Though the determined face with that jaunty tilt quite capture my interest as well.

Not a Young Coot but a Common Gallinule

Since moving to LA my photography has tapered off. It is not that there isn't anything inspiring around me, but instead that I have been making a big adjustment. There is a peace that nature brings me that I don't know how to find any other way. Sometimes it feels like all there is around me is concrete now, which, of course, is not true. I will start to post photos of my new home. But, I found a peace the other day that I had missed while visiting family for Thanksgiving weekend.

I went to the San Diego Zoo's Safari Park (the Wild Animal Park) and spent a good while observing a busy pond of birds, mostly coots inundating the flamingo pond, but there were a few of these little guys there too. At first I thought this was just a young coot getting its' bearings off in a secluded corner, but I have since discovered it is a different bird altogether, a Common Gallinule.  I'm happy to have met this little creature. There is something settled I gathered from these moments that I have brought back with me.