Who notices the wonder five feet below one’s eyes?
Golden Saxifrage (Chrysosplenium americanum), a field indicator of springs (where groundwater emerges to the surface).
“He who hopes for spring with upturned eye never sees so small a thing as Draba. He who despairs of spring with downcast eye steps on it, unknowing. He who searches for spring with his knees in the mud finds it, in abundance.” -Aldo Leopold in a Sand County Almanac (1949)
The field biologist’s dilemma:
Relax your eyes and observe the birds: soar like a hawk.
Focus your eyes and observe the ground: get mired in a quagmire.