Happy to see a monster

As I sat on the balcony this morning, eating tropical fruits and watching birds in the one little wild-like overgrown wetland spot in the centre of town, I knew life was good. I watched a small monitor lizard (still well over a metre long) approaching me, unaware of my proximity; I watched another larger one, almost as big as me, doing its morning sunbathe/meditation/sit-spot high in a tree. Birds landed right next to it apparently unaware or certainly unconcerned by the monster.

I watched some of the most skulking birds in full view because of the time of day and my quietness; I learned more about the routines of particular individuals within my view, having sat at the same spot yesterday. I saw two new species that I've never seen in my life before, too, which is always a joy; one was a shrike which is a small predatory songbird also known in some places as the butcher-bird because it has the macabre habit of impaling its prey on thorns or barbed wire foreating later. You see its larder of pierced and hanging grasshoppers, frogs, worms, even small mammals for the larger species. Predators are always more exciting to watch.

I had space and time for myself and I was in a natural place, feeling secure, no pressures, wild beings for company and constant interest. Life was good. That's why I need to have a naturalist/tracking job; I feel good quickly in such a situation.