The Free Radical

It began, actually, with an encounter I’ve never had before. I think I must be the only local here in the Columbia Valley who hadn’t seen a Wild Turkey before… until now. Immediately upon our arrival at the gate, after our initial ascent, there he was, waiting for us… Wild Turkey!

I’m calling it ‘he’ because the turkey was alone– no other turkeys in sight… and the area in question is fairly open. It’s typical for turkeys to travel in congregations of several hens with a single male; this one was just missing the hens. He stood at least three feet tall… and proved to be rather athletic.

As soon as I had spotted him– he was impossible to miss– I tried to divert the attention of the dogs… to no avail. Sitka just had to give chase… despite my protestations. He could run pretty fast, and could fly even faster! Yes, turkeys can fly (despite a particular episode of WKRP in which Mr. Carlson elected to give away turkeys for Thanksgiving by dropping them from a helicopter above a shopping centre, which appeared to prove that turkeys can’t fly; that’s only the fattened domestic jobbies; the wild ones are quite agile). Needless to say, I didn’t get the chance for a picture.

In the animal kingdom, Turkey is the quintessential representation of Mother Earth.

And all (other) birds in general are representative of long-standing connections to the astral realms. (Keep this in mind as we proceed.)

Osprey was quiet and content to let us go about our business…

…despite the close proximity of this annual nesting site (just south of our usual route).

But the ravens would not shut up! “There’s a disturbance in the force! Can you feel that? There’s something going on!”

The dogs sniffed out this dead snake very near to where the shouting ravens had congregated. Strange that the snake hadn’t been claimed! I was pretty sure I’d heard the vocalizations of Eagle too amongst the incessant chatter, but nearly everyone elected to stay just out of sight among the treetops… discussing the strange energy milieu.

Minutes later, as we looked back across the landscape we’d just covered, a lone Turkey Vulture rose effortlessly above the Forest, holding its wings up in a characteristic V while riding the afternoon thermals. It made me think that perhaps there had been a carcass after all… but then I would expect the dogs to easily sniff it out; they hadn’t. Strange.

Down by the river, Canada Goose had come again. This time there were six of them! Before this season I had only very rarely spotted geese by Dutch Creek; now they suddenly seemed to enjoy it as a favourite spot.

They were like three couples out for an afternoon picnic on this island in the rising river. Shortly after we passed them by on the trail paralleling the creek, they took flight with an enthusiastic chorus of honks… heading north.

Geese have familial mothering energy– the kind that teaches through storytelling. I can relate to that!

There was definitely something in the air this day… a raucous spirit untethered, testing its wings. The whole experience of this outing reminded me of the picture I look at daily as I’m sitting on the toilet… in my excremeditation chamber…

Make of it what you will…