LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE BUT FINE TUNE FOR THE DETAILS.

 Just as we need to see with both of our eyes in order to capture all of the nuances of an image, we need to gather information from both "big picture" and "detail" perspectives in order to fully understand.




 Like a puzzle, you don't get the "whole picture" until you have all the pieces.

 Right now the moss is emerald green, lush and fresh with new growth.

Often times when I'm in the timber I see some rather large terrestrial snails  and there are not a lot of good guide books for identifying land snails





But I'm going with the
Striped whitelip

This species is also known as Helix multilineata,

Here's an older shell without the snail    The Iowa Pleistocene snail is an endangered species.
These snails live in the leaf litter of special cool and moist hillsides called algific talus slopes. Cool air and water, from underground ice, flow out of cracks in the slopes and keep the ground temperatures below 50 degrees F in summer and above 14 degrees F in winter.  I keep looking but I have yet to find one.


















It's always tough to find that first mushroom of the year. 

 

but once you've got them in your sites and you put a knife by them there easy to spot.











When you take the time to focus on the smaller details thing just seem to become more clear.




I spent the next fifteen minutes trying to track down a bird which was calling.  Just to see a Cat Bird, high in a tree top.   Then just a few minutes later I was rewarded with seeing a Scarlet Tanager.






Look beyond the obvious.