The gathering

This photograph was taken from just off a service road between a suburban strip mall and a medical services building. What you can't see is the busy highway and shopping center just beyond the reeds. I shot from a low angle to hide them.

The soundtrack for this shot was the call of the red-winged blackbirds flittering among the reeds and the drone of traffic just beyond them. Behind me, bicyclists pedaled past this scene, traveling on a concrete sidewalk that passed by a Holiday Inn and a restaurant.

Suburbia has created these mini-ecosystems, small places where what's left of displaced species can gather for yet another day. The suburbs are filled with these little islands of nature surrounded by a sea of commerce. They can be found along roadways, near parking lots and in other places otherwise deemed unsuitable for building.

The dark clouds and setting sun speak a warning to other open areas that lay on the edges of the suburban sprawl. Your time is coming.

Click on picture to enlarge. Photograph © 2008 James Jordan.