Journal 2

02/09/09 (this was from hella long ago!)

At the same spot in the park, I spotted a black phoebe, particularaly by the way it wags it's tail. There were a few more around, but the little guy who I was watching was able to nab a couple of insects which was cute (except for the insects of course, such is the war of nature). I'm also going to grab a couple of these interesting pine cones that are always littering the ground near these two trees in thie one spot near the park. They tower over all the other willow trees and their some kind of pine (duh) but I'm not sure what species yet. 

It's a much colder day due to the wind chill and I wasn't able to get out for a while because of it. Ah oh, well I'll come back out again as soon as I figure out what kinda pine trees those are.

Journal #1

Okays, I'm an amateur birder/hiker and I keep a little log of what I see and think about on hikes and I decided to start posting some of it here!

At the park near my house, I saw & was able to identify a Steller's Jay! I had been hearing a particularly loud bird for the whole of the time I was out and luckily the bird finally managed to fly low enough for me to see it. It was much bigger than than the other songbirds in the area and it took me a few minutes to flip through the little field book I carry with me and find him(my thanks to the bird who stood reasonable still this whole time!). 

About the same time I identified him (it was his beak size and shape plus the feathers on his head that gave him away), he flew to the branch that was right above my head and then chased another Stellers Jay away!

My binoculars aren't that great so smaller birds are harder to look at but I'm pretty sure that there was a finch of some kind near me too. However all the birds took shelter when it started raining again. I wuz able to find a big tree near the creeks edge and jot down some notes on what I had seen. I could stayed there longer and listened to the rain splash against the creek but I hadn't dressed warmly enough! As I was out, I couldn't help thinking of all the other animals that don't have a home to run to and they have to tough it out in the storm & it started pouring by the time I got inside. 

It's a curious feeling, knowing that even though nature seems harmonious and at peace with itself, the closer you look, the more apparent the obvious struggle and strife becomes. Nature is constantly at war with itself, never resting, never letting up, never displaying anything but cold blind indifference. At the same time though, it's so curious why I should get such a feeling of peace whenever I hike. I find it's like meditating in a battlefield, rather perverse indeed. Weird, oh well maybe the my fellow tree huggers who read this will get it! ;)