Over time, we come to recognize places and activities that are especially relaxing. For me, these prime stress reducers are solitude, music and nature. Off work for the day, I decided to combine these therapies on a morning trip through the rural areas that surround Columbia. Taking along my binos and a few CDs, I escaped to the country.
Despite the cold, gray conditions, there were plenty of birds along the route. Bluebirds, hawks and a lone loggerhead shrike highlighted the drive across farmlands east of town. In the hill country to our south, wild turkeys and a Cooper's hawk spiced up the usual mix of woodland residents while, on the Missouri floodplain, killdeer, horned larks and red-winged blackbirds dominated the scene. North of Columbia, on the rolling landscape of the till plain, white-crowned sparrows and meadowlarks graced the fields, kestrels swayed on powerlines and turkey vultures, like wayward kites, dipped and soared in the strong, north wind.
Of course, the birds were only part of the scene. Rocky creeks, flowering trees, fields of henbit, old barns and placid livestock added to the serenity of the drive. What better way to spend a free spring morning?
