When you live and work in a city, you begin to thirst for things you take for granted when you live out in the suburbs — easy parking, cheap groceries, and nature.

This shot, taken while out on a bike ride with Rudi early in the month, exemplifies the little things that I like to look for along the C&O Canal and is my May submission for 007: Snap a Dozen Days.

On that same trip, we saw turtles, cormorants, and a night heron (that I originally mistook for a penguin escaped from the zoo). It was too early for ducklings, but three different goose families were out taking advantage of the nice weather. The goslings would paddle, paddle, paddle as hard as their little legs would go and Mama and Papa every once in a while would move a leg to keep up their coasting along the surface of the water. If a gosling strayed too far, Mama would hum a little growl at them to get back in line and make for safer waters.

Earlier shots in the 007 series: April, March, February, and January.