Another great nature post John - thanks for sharing. I love the way you hang back and pick up details that others might just gloss over or pass by altogether. Nice photo of the milkweed pod spilling out with seeds ready to drift off and start anew.
Canada Geese still hanging around, and the beavers doing the best hydro engineering around, learned from about 40 million years of being here on Home Earth. Love the beavers.
The feathers on the ground from a downed bird, perhaps hitting a power line. I have been thinking a lot lately about the power lines. There are many in front of my house. And so many high-voltage lines criss-crossing the city. And phone lines, Internet towers and who knows what else.
The squirrels navigate these deftly. The birds sometimes fail, although I often see them sitting on these same power lines. For them, it is like a branch. But it isn't. We have too much technology and it is unhealthy, making us sick.
I read beavers are now being credited with rehabilitating waters polluted by excess nitrogen caused by fertilizer runoff from modern agriculture. The process, called denitrification, reduces harmful levels of nitrogen by 5 - 45% depending on the pond and levels of nitrogen present. High nitrogen levels cause algal blooms and depleted oxygen levels causing fish kill. Where beavers are making comebacks, entire ecosystems downstream from beaver ponds are improving as a result.
I appreciated the storytelling of your day in the woods and on the marsh, John. I can relate to enjoying both company and solitude, and imagine those preferences are influenced by your present journey.
The photos invite the reader in, to the day and to the mood. And the song is powerful and a great way to close. It certainly resonated in the chat room on Saturday night.
I love encountering "beaver evidence" and so rarely get to see the actual beavers. It's nice to know they are there at least! Hope the new lone pine grows well in its new spot.
We once had a beaver walk through our back yard in broad daylight, mid morning as I recall. Middle of summer. We couldn't quite figure out what it was until it got really close and we could see the tail to make the identification. And no, unfortunately I didn't get a picture of Canada's National Animal. Doug McRae says in all the time he has hung out at that marsh, he has never seen a beaver.
A beaver in your backyard, that is incredible!!! One time in NJ during covid some NYC people moved to a house (our backyards were separated by their high fence), and I heard one of them tell someone over the phone that she had seen a beaver in the backyard. It was a groundhog, of course!
Well, when I say backyard, I mean the section of the meadow that I mow with a close cut mower, a fairly large area that could double as an archery range, at least at that time. We have also seen coyotes, foxes, raccoons, skunks, ermines, weasels, fishers, coywolves, and on a couple of occasions, black bears. White tail deer are common sometimes in groups of 12 or more. So not your typical backyard by any means. When we arrived in 1986, we had groundhogs close to our back door. I kept filling their holes with used kitty litter and pouring hot water in afterwards to make an inhospitable environment for them. It worked, they moved out, but I think the local farmers hunted them to extinction and haven't seen a single groundhog in about 40 years.
You'll be glad to know groundhogs are thriving in suburban NJ then! When they are not raiding your crops or undermining your house's foundations, they really are such amusing creatures and one of my favorite animals for the comedic factor alone. That's a fantastic list of wildlife - have you also seen a Canadian lynx?
I have only ever seen a lynx in the zoo I'm afraid. Very elusive creatures. I'm told there are lynx, bobcats and even cougars in the area but few and far between and seldom seen. Cougars are almost like bigfoot creatures in these parts. When a sighting is made, it almost instantly become legend and the source of much gossip. I'm glad Groundhogs are holding their own somewhere. Other mammals I left off the list include black, grey and red and flying squirrels and of course the various species of bats, mostly brown in this area. Our attic, carefully sealed off from the rest of the house, has hundreds of them each year. I often stand at the porch door at dusk and watch them drop out of the eaves before flying off. Oh, and while rare, I have seen the occasional porcupine. They leave the most distinct mark in the snow which is instantly recognizable. I think we are too far north for possums and too far south for wolves. There are wild elk not far north of us, but I've never seen one on our property or in our municipality for that matter.
That's beautiful Peter and so on point. Losing Ruth has put me in the here and now with an awesome force that is hard to describe. To see the day for what it is and from a perspective of gratitude is truly a life altering gift. My very best wishes to you and Gundi.
Being engaged in our surroundings is wonderful, eh? We moved here for a new adventure - to live directly looking out to the north Atlantic Ocean and to explore this wild and rugged coastline. This year I am buoyed by part-time (three days a week) paid employment driving a van around this beauteous island for the Cape Breton Food Hub. Through it, I enjoy being part of a small buoyant team picking up and delivering local food. It has lent structure and added purpose and joy to my life. It complements my reading and writing, which help to crystallize and make sense of things. Gundi remains creative as ever and sends her love, as do I.
Very enjoyable. The first image of geese against the sky is stunning. Your environment and local plants are so like where we visited T&D, just as the leaves were turning in Mass. So your walk brings back memories of beaver activity and those incredible milkweed seedpods! Thanks.
Thank You S&S. Yes, our climates and vegetation are very similar. Glad you enjoyed the walk. I've taken much better pictures of milkweed seedpods. They are a challenging and wonderful subject that I keep coming back to every year.
What a lovely read…I notice we both have that pull between wanting to be part of community and the need to be alone. I’m doing more of the latter these days. It looks like you had a wonderful outing…I’m glad you caught up to the group, particularly with the bear scratches in n the ground. Beautiful images John…thanks for taking us along.
Funny coincidence. I bought all the kids this hiking thing that jungles to alert wildlife and whistle in case you need it. A friend on Facebook suggested it as they have bears where they are and it worked like a charm.
Another great nature post John - thanks for sharing. I love the way you hang back and pick up details that others might just gloss over or pass by altogether. Nice photo of the milkweed pod spilling out with seeds ready to drift off and start anew.
Thank You Andy.
Canada Geese still hanging around, and the beavers doing the best hydro engineering around, learned from about 40 million years of being here on Home Earth. Love the beavers.
The feathers on the ground from a downed bird, perhaps hitting a power line. I have been thinking a lot lately about the power lines. There are many in front of my house. And so many high-voltage lines criss-crossing the city. And phone lines, Internet towers and who knows what else.
The squirrels navigate these deftly. The birds sometimes fail, although I often see them sitting on these same power lines. For them, it is like a branch. But it isn't. We have too much technology and it is unhealthy, making us sick.
I read beavers are now being credited with rehabilitating waters polluted by excess nitrogen caused by fertilizer runoff from modern agriculture. The process, called denitrification, reduces harmful levels of nitrogen by 5 - 45% depending on the pond and levels of nitrogen present. High nitrogen levels cause algal blooms and depleted oxygen levels causing fish kill. Where beavers are making comebacks, entire ecosystems downstream from beaver ponds are improving as a result.
Beaver Lumber: clever.
I appreciated the storytelling of your day in the woods and on the marsh, John. I can relate to enjoying both company and solitude, and imagine those preferences are influenced by your present journey.
The photos invite the reader in, to the day and to the mood. And the song is powerful and a great way to close. It certainly resonated in the chat room on Saturday night.
As you say, hang in there.
Thank You Steve. I know you get it.
Thank you, John.
I love encountering "beaver evidence" and so rarely get to see the actual beavers. It's nice to know they are there at least! Hope the new lone pine grows well in its new spot.
We once had a beaver walk through our back yard in broad daylight, mid morning as I recall. Middle of summer. We couldn't quite figure out what it was until it got really close and we could see the tail to make the identification. And no, unfortunately I didn't get a picture of Canada's National Animal. Doug McRae says in all the time he has hung out at that marsh, he has never seen a beaver.
A beaver in your backyard, that is incredible!!! One time in NJ during covid some NYC people moved to a house (our backyards were separated by their high fence), and I heard one of them tell someone over the phone that she had seen a beaver in the backyard. It was a groundhog, of course!
Well, when I say backyard, I mean the section of the meadow that I mow with a close cut mower, a fairly large area that could double as an archery range, at least at that time. We have also seen coyotes, foxes, raccoons, skunks, ermines, weasels, fishers, coywolves, and on a couple of occasions, black bears. White tail deer are common sometimes in groups of 12 or more. So not your typical backyard by any means. When we arrived in 1986, we had groundhogs close to our back door. I kept filling their holes with used kitty litter and pouring hot water in afterwards to make an inhospitable environment for them. It worked, they moved out, but I think the local farmers hunted them to extinction and haven't seen a single groundhog in about 40 years.
You'll be glad to know groundhogs are thriving in suburban NJ then! When they are not raiding your crops or undermining your house's foundations, they really are such amusing creatures and one of my favorite animals for the comedic factor alone. That's a fantastic list of wildlife - have you also seen a Canadian lynx?
I have only ever seen a lynx in the zoo I'm afraid. Very elusive creatures. I'm told there are lynx, bobcats and even cougars in the area but few and far between and seldom seen. Cougars are almost like bigfoot creatures in these parts. When a sighting is made, it almost instantly become legend and the source of much gossip. I'm glad Groundhogs are holding their own somewhere. Other mammals I left off the list include black, grey and red and flying squirrels and of course the various species of bats, mostly brown in this area. Our attic, carefully sealed off from the rest of the house, has hundreds of them each year. I often stand at the porch door at dusk and watch them drop out of the eaves before flying off. Oh, and while rare, I have seen the occasional porcupine. They leave the most distinct mark in the snow which is instantly recognizable. I think we are too far north for possums and too far south for wolves. There are wild elk not far north of us, but I've never seen one on our property or in our municipality for that matter.
John, I love your opening photo of "A flock of Canada Geese circling Lone Pine Marsh". Very atmospheric and painterly.
I have been following your posts and empathize. I especially appreciate your keen eye for detail and beauty in Nature.
This poetic gem landed on my lap this morning and I hope you like it:
It is a Sanskrit poem by Kalidasa, an Indian playwright and poet from the 4th and 5th Century AD:
Look to this day,
for it is life,
the very breath of life.
In its brief course lie
all the realities of your existence;
the bliss of growth,
the glory of action,
the splendor of beauty.
For yesterday is only a dream,
and tomorrow is but a vision.
But today, well lived,
makes every yesterday a dream of happiness,
and every tomorrow
a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore, to this day.
That's beautiful Peter and so on point. Losing Ruth has put me in the here and now with an awesome force that is hard to describe. To see the day for what it is and from a perspective of gratitude is truly a life altering gift. My very best wishes to you and Gundi.
Being engaged in our surroundings is wonderful, eh? We moved here for a new adventure - to live directly looking out to the north Atlantic Ocean and to explore this wild and rugged coastline. This year I am buoyed by part-time (three days a week) paid employment driving a van around this beauteous island for the Cape Breton Food Hub. Through it, I enjoy being part of a small buoyant team picking up and delivering local food. It has lent structure and added purpose and joy to my life. It complements my reading and writing, which help to crystallize and make sense of things. Gundi remains creative as ever and sends her love, as do I.
Sounds like bliss.
Very enjoyable. The first image of geese against the sky is stunning. Your environment and local plants are so like where we visited T&D, just as the leaves were turning in Mass. So your walk brings back memories of beaver activity and those incredible milkweed seedpods! Thanks.
Thank You S&S. Yes, our climates and vegetation are very similar. Glad you enjoyed the walk. I've taken much better pictures of milkweed seedpods. They are a challenging and wonderful subject that I keep coming back to every year.
What a lovely read…I notice we both have that pull between wanting to be part of community and the need to be alone. I’m doing more of the latter these days. It looks like you had a wonderful outing…I’m glad you caught up to the group, particularly with the bear scratches in n the ground. Beautiful images John…thanks for taking us along.
Thank you for walking with me. The bear was long gone.
Funny coincidence. I bought all the kids this hiking thing that jungles to alert wildlife and whistle in case you need it. A friend on Facebook suggested it as they have bears where they are and it worked like a charm.