Riding across the Rio Grande this morning on the old Alameda bridge, Jaime and I stopped to look at a big bird sitting in the middle of the river.

It was hunkered down against the morning chill, standing in shallow water, when I saw it reach down and snag a fish – big white breakfast, maybe a foot long. It was a great blue heron. It spread its wings and took flight north up the river, looking for a place to land and have breakfast.

Later in the ride, a coyote darted across the trail in front of us, dropping down into the drainage ditch and up the other side, on a loping radial away from us, casual but attentive, headed into the neighborhood no doubt to eat someone’s chicken. Or cat.