The Free Radical

Look…out! The adventure’s getting messy… with points of interest all along the way.

Only a couple of minutes into our walk, on the ground beside the shortcut, I came across this tiny nest tucked away in the grass. As near as I could tell it had three live and hungry babies and one unhatched egg inside. Sitka was sniffing around as I snapped a quick pic. She could tell there was something nearby, but I didn’t let her poke her nose in… for obvious reasons. Mama bird (unidentified) chirped at us from a tree, as I hurried us along and made a mental note to avoid the shortcut for a few weeks.

Some birds fare better than others. Someone had a quick and tidy meal here– just feathers, no blood.

I swear this guy totally meant to scare the piss out of us. Toby especially gets freaked out by Grouse nearly every day. They always wait to the very last minute, right until you’re about to step on them, before they fly up raucously in your face. Note: they can also fly perfectly silently, but very rarely choose to do so, making quite a racket instead!

This guy was in grievous danger of being trodden upon… except for his brief chirping like a cricket. Now that’s one pimped-out cricket! Personally, I don’t think he’s a cricket at all; he just does vocal impressions for fun and entertainment.

It’s usually more dragonflies than damsels; you can tell the difference by the way they hold their wings while at rest. Dragonfly keeps them out to the side, perpendicular to the length of his body. It’s good to see either of them none the less, as Mosquito promises to make his presence known here in the swamp very soon. The dragons and damsels help to keep their numbers in check.

Now that I’m accepting dietary recommendations from Bigsquatch, I finally noticed all the fir tips laden with pollen cones which had been placed along the centre of the dirt road paralleling the swamp. There were literally dozens of them neatly arranged along the exact centre of the road. This can only be the work of Piudi (my Sasquatch contact) who is actively trying to get me to expand my foraging repertoire.

These had been lying there already for some days, perhaps weeks, before I deigned to try them. Although somewhat dry, they’re actually quite tasty. I have long been a fan of eating the pollen of conifers– a highly nutritious food specific to hormone health. (Pollen is the semen of the Forest.)

There was still a couple of trees on the Mesa bearing pollen cones– so now I know what to look for in the early spring. During yesterday’s light rain I was lucky enough to find a few pollen cones retaining some moisture. They were like eating chewy candy that tasted exactly like the Forest typically smells. Next year I’ll be all over this scene!