The Beatles tune “Birthday” was humming in my thoughts. Coasting by the Henry Ferguson Museum on my bicycle, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to spend some very good time paying homage to our dear Earth. So I stopped by to sit in the serenity of sun and shadow under my favorite gazebo.

A barred owl joined me, snoozing in the shade of unfurling, pale pink leaves in the radiance of a blue sky.

“I’m glad it’s your Earth Day ... Happy Earth Day to you!”

Justine Kibbe is a naturalist for the Fishers Island Conservancy. A lifelong environmentalist, Kibbe spent six years on Alaska’s Island of St. Paul among the native Unungan people to study fur seals. Now a Fishers Island resident, Kibbe offers weekly wildlife snapshots from her observations around the island in “My Neck Of The Woods.” She can be reached at bjkibbe@gmail.com.