Humans are Part of Nature On a scientific level I think many of us humans have come to recognize that we are part of Nature; that we exist only because the circumstances meet the needs of oxygen-based lifeforms. But on so many other levels we consider Nature separate – either wilderness to protect from us…
Tag Archives: Hearken to Avalon
The first Saturday in March has proven to be perfect tracking weather. The snow is firm enough so that lighter animals (i.e., non-humans) are not punching through too deeply, but just enough to leave clear prints. One can see the clear X in the four-digit print of the red fox and the five-digit prints of…
Raucous Raptors As I traversed the slippery driveway to the mailbox on the night of February 15th I heard the distinct hooting of one of the resident Barred Owls. Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo; hoo-hoo-hoo-hoowah-wah. Ah, and so it has begun. The nightly serenating has commenced as the male woos his lady. Courtship takes place in February and behavior…
A gunshot echoes from the silence as I breathe in the dawn. If my ears could perk and swivel like a deer, I would alert myself to the source of the sound. It’s November and then December – hunting season in the Hilltowns. Echoing shots have become such a familiar sound to me and I…
Queen of the Fall She is no monk, hiding her face from the sun; her hood brazenly pushed back daring you to come in closer. Though she is the bane of every living mammal she stands defiant in the face of death. Frost covers her cloak yet she breathes in the waning light. She presides…
I would like you to reach back in time and give thanks to the blue-green bacteria who initiated the masses by breathing volatile oxygen, for without them we could not be here. And let us then give thanks to the plants who recognized that the sun is food, and in their breath, they give us…
Autumn is about letting go; being present in the release. You don’t forget the past; you let go of its hold on you, and it becomes mulch for your growth. The Law of Return You can learn quite a bit about your own processes by looking at Nature’s processes. Flora consume nutrients throughout the growing…
Don’t think for a moment that I don’t love cats. I do! I have two of my own little loves. And… Bustle Recently a long-haired white cat with a black-and-white bustle tail showed up in our neighborhood. We know not whence this bedraggled beauty arrived but s/he is here wandering and bustling about. I have…
As the snows melt into the forest and the grasses grow in the fields, take time to stop and look and listen to the lives unfolding all around you: harried bird parents flying back and forth from the nest to feed their young; hungry chicks begging for food, with mouths agape, as their parents arrive…
The Ring-necked Pheasant, Phasianus colchicus, is a handsome-looking chap. This member of the grouse family (Phasianidae) has iridescent copper-gold plumage with a long tail – brown with black markings. He is aptly named due to the white ring around his neck. He also sports teal-colored feathers on his head as well as a red sideways…
