Just beneath the blind, a coot paddles silently along the shoreline. Young coots glide between the cattails. Beside me, a small boy juts out his finger.
Giggles erupt from inside the rock structure.
Other young boys quickly gather at his side, each one trying to look, in turn, through one set of binoculars. We have to be quiet now. Pointing, I direct their attention to other birds swimming in the middle of the 42-acre wetland dotted by a collage of asymmetrical islands. If you look close near that bigger island, just to the right of that dead clump, you'll see a green heron. This was my first interpretive hike to the barrow pit at John Martin Reservoir near Hasty, Colorado.