some amateur natural history
weather: 🌥️ dark souls sky
critters: western bluebird
we went on a hike the other day with a definite destination in mind, but we fucked up navigating and wound up going around an entire hill that wasn't on the itinerary.
this added like two miles to the trip, which doesn't sound that bad, but it was that bad--up-and-down terrain, dense poky foliage and no machete, hot weather and no water. yes, we're idiots. thankfully the only injuries between all of us were a bruised knee and a blistered toe.
i saw some old oaks, some granite juts and freestanding boulders, and a woodpecker in flight. of animal footprints, i saw a coyote's, a domestic dog's, and a raccoon's. a very little set of dog prints might've belonged to a fox. there was a large partial footprint that may have been a puma's.
most of my childhood memories of my dad are of road trips and whimsical hikes. walking carefully across dams--through shallow canyons full of feral orange trees. or looking out at town from a high hill, or gliding out across reservoirs in rental dinghies. i don't remember water or sunscreen or hats or sunglasses. defenseless wandering passed for entertainment in my dad's day, i guess.
i was a little disappointed in the bird turnout. then i remembered jenny odell quoting pauline oliveros in her own birdwatching-related thoughts:
when you enter an environment where there are birds, insects or animals, they are listening to you completely. you are received. your presence may be the difference between life and death . . .
today is when i saw the bluebird at work. they have a nice straight posture when standing on the edges of walls or tables. they're always a little bigger than i remember, approximately dove-sized.
i hate that they eat bugs cuz that means i can't lure them with suet or birdseed. why live?