The Free Radical

Damn, it’s getting busy in the Forest!

Early on, when we got to the Lookout, I was taking a pee when very quietly Eagle came to spy on me– at least I think it was Eagle. There’s only small patches of open sky above when you’re in the thick of the woods, so a raptor flying above is only visible for a few seconds. I considered in this instance that it might have been Richard, the turkey vulture, because I never saw him beat his wings as he flew above me– a characteristic of Turkey Vulture’s uncanny ability to effortlessly soar. But I didn’t have the opportunity to dig out the binoculars in time to make a proper determination. Anyway, this is the view from the Lookout:

Minutes later, we heard the distinctive call of Eagle up ahead, so that loaned credence to the earlier encounter having been Eagle too. And then as we entered the Burroughs, Ground Squirrel was shouting up a fuss like never before. One even came running after us shouting his fool head off. I didn’t know what his problem was!

And then a picture began to emerge… a reason why all the critters might be a bit on edge. A few days earlier my Mom had warned me that there was definitely a bear in the area as he had spent some time in my parents’ yard– close to where these walks occur. My Mom estimated him to be only three years old, but he wasn’t shy and quite curious. Bottom line is that I was expecting to encounter either Bear or sure signs of Bear.

It wasn’t hard to find the signs of bears in the area. This particular print though, had me a bit nervous. This is definitely not the print of a mere three-year-old! This almost looked like it came from Bigsquatch himself… up on his tippy-toes.

The next series of data points showed that the bear wasn’t actually THAT big… but still likely bigger than the three-year-old my mother saw. The big print might be the result of two overlapping prints; that happens sometimes, and I’m no expert.

So the conclusion here is that there are some bears in the area… along with the family of eagles. All this has led me to consider a new symbolism for the whole affair. The two-headed eagle appears on numerous Russian coats of arms. Additionally, the bear is commonly associated with Russia as well. So at play here we have issues of spiritual integrity (Eagle)– and the right to self-determination; also, we have Bear, the representative of true sovereignty. The prevalence of these formidable predators has gotten the surrounding forest on vigilant alert and in a state of mild agitation. I’m looking to the situation in the Ukraine as the macrocosmic correlate to my Forest drama.

We shall see how this all plays out!