Feather on the water

Sometimes beauty is found in what is left behind

My neighborhood's lakes are home to a myriad of ducks, and great blue herons are nesting in trees along the banks. I go to the lakes nearly every day before sunset to see the herons and follow their progress through the cycle of nest building, egg-laying, and chicks hatching, growing, fledging, and eventually leaving the nest. One evening I saw this feather of unknown origin on the perfectly still lake. I knew the mirror image was magical and was surprised when I opened it on my computer to find the rainbow iridescence shimmering from within the feather's structure.