Living Car Free - Birds and Bees and Flowers and Trees

As a part of simple living, how many people count watching nature as one of their hobbies?

There are a series of creeks near me, and I find myself drawn to watching them and the life that they support.

It's been dynamic lately, last summer was very wet and the creeks all flowed high and there were lots of fish, snakes, turtles, birds, marsh rice rats, muskrats.

The winter was harsh, I saw a muskrat swimming under the ice one day. A lone female heron fished the creek and chased after small mammals until the city dredged the creek destroyed the lushly overgrown sandbar and leveled out the bottom. I haven't seen the heron since, nor the muskrats. Though I did see a solitary crawdad walking across the bottom since and a soft shell turtle a little further down the creek. The fish have been a mystery since they have appeared and disappeared several times already this spring. I have become amazed at how fast they grow. One day there will be tiny fish, two days later the pond will be populated by much bigger fish.

I also find myself watching the buds of the trees, anticipating when they will bloom. The pear trees are now large cones of white blossoms, but the red buds have yet to bud.

Does anyone else indulge in watching nature on an ongoing basis?

Always...I travel from north to south a fair bit and love to watch the changing of the seasons in a few hundred miles. We are getting into full bore spring here...been out plowing the fire breaks because the people behind me seem to think spring is the time to start burning off brush:rolleyes::notamused:

Aaron:)

Could not agree more . Nothing like a stop by a brook surrounded only by forest. The sound is mesmerizing. One does not watch out, you'll not get home before dark.. Better yet, camp overnight by a stream . it makes the world whole again.

Could not agree more . Nothing like a stop by a brook surrounded only by forest. The sound is mesmerizing. One does not watch out, you'll not get home before dark.. Better yet, camp overnight by a stream . it makes the world whole again.

Have you watched it long enough to see the changes from day to day, and year to year? That often the fish disappear after a big rain, only to see another generation of tiny fish a few days later. Or that the catfish just didn't come back after last year, or to see a dead hummingbird in your garden and know exactly which one it was because you had been watching it all year? Becoming personally involved with the beauty and the darker events?

Have you watched it long enough to see the changes from day to day, and year to year? That often the fish disappear after a big rain, only to see another generation of tiny fish a few days later. Or that the catfish just didn't come back after last year, or to see a dead hummingbird in your garden and know exactly which one it was because you had been watching it all year? Becoming personally involved with the beauty and the darker events?

Absolutely!:thumb: We have a multitude of wild life on our property. The largest being the deer, when I first moved here 12 years ago, there were 2 does we saw regularly the current count is up to 8:twitchy: with two being the fawns from the past season. There are at least 3 bucks on the property and perhaps more.

The bobwhite disappeared for a couple of years, eaten by the over abundance of fox I would assume. We live trapped and removed 9 foxes in 14 days. The bobwhite have come back, we still have fox, I saw my evening buddy a female gray again last night. We have bats that come out about dusk to feed on the insects, they have multiplied from 2 up to 6 with a few being smaller I assume newbies. We also have dove, crows, blue birds, etc, etc.

And on a quiet summer evening you can hear the Kudzu creeping up on you...

Aaron:)

As a part of simple living, how many people count watching nature as one of their hobbies?

There are a series of creeks near me, and I find myself drawn to watching them and the life that they support.

It's been dynamic lately, last summer was very wet and the creeks all flowed high and there were lots of fish, snakes, turtles, birds, marsh rice rats, muskrats.

The winter was harsh, I saw a muskrat swimming under the ice one day. A lone female heron fished the creek and chased after small mammals until the city dredged the creek destroyed the lushly overgrown sandbar and leveled out the bottom. I haven't seen the heron since, nor the muskrats. Though I did see a solitary crawdad walking across the bottom since and a soft shell turtle a little further down the creek. The fish have been a mystery since they have appeared and disappeared several times already this spring. I have become amazed at how fast they grow. One day there will be tiny fish, two days later the pond will be populated by much bigger fish.

I also find myself watching the buds of the trees, anticipating when they will bloom. The pear trees are now large cones of white blossoms, but the red buds have yet to bud.

Does anyone else indulge in watching nature on an ongoing basis?

Too much time on your hands? Isn't this connected ness with your surroundings one of the traditional advantages of car-free living. I was rapping with another biker on the metro Friday night and I asked him if he saw this fox and noticed the fox's habits. Turns out both our sets of friends and family have taken to telling us things like "Hey I saw your fox last night." When they spot it from their cars. With the bikes we're silent but fast enough that we see it more often and by more frequent sightings get to know its habits. It seems to have an early evening regular path.

I have developed a whole new appreciation for nature since giving up the car. You almost can't help it, since you're surrounded by it when you ride. Where I used to be staring at brake lights through my windshield while going to work, I now get to see deer, turkeys, skunks, hawks, rabbits, squirrels, snakes, possums, and...well...all the regular animals you'd expect to see. Friday I saw a woodpecker for the first time in my life. I'd heard them many times, but never could see them. What a pretty bird. I absolutely love watching all the animals just doing what they do. It makes me question our complicated lives even more!

And it's not just the animals of course, but one develops an appreciation for plant life, too. Last spring the wonderful scent of honeysuckles was so strong in the air on my commute it made me want to just lie in the green grass all day and enjoy it. I think that may be the most pleasant scent in the world, and it's my favorite thing about Spring. And, even though I despise heat and therefore am usually miserable all Summer, not many things compare to a cooling Summer shower in the afternoon. Somehow, it's more of a relief than a glass of ice water. Plus, riding in the rain in the Summer one gets to see even more animals, because it seems they really come out then. I never knew that until I biked to work.

I'm pretty lucky. Even though I live right in the city, there's a large flood plain near my house which has nevr been developed. I can ride through an old growth beech-hickory forest just by adding two miles to my four mile commute. This gives me a chance to get a little peace and beauty almost every day. I've had many wonderful experiences in this small forest.

I was riding in this woodland in the spring when I learned by cell phone that a good friend had died. I was glad to be in a natural space when I got this news, especially since my friend was an Ojibwe who loved the forest. It was a good spot to stop my bike. I meditated about our friendship and started mourning his death.

Another time, in the same woods, I heard a loud and eery bird call from high in a tree. I couldn't identify what bird was making this spooky sound. I called my 82 year old father on my cell phone, since he used to be a birdwatcher. He immediately identified it as a barred owl. I know my dad was thrilled to hear this bird, even over the phone, since he's unable to walk in the woods any longer.

We have late and cold springs in lower Michigan because of our location east of Lake Michigan. (For the same reason, we also have glorious autumns.) We've only had a few days so far when the temperature has gone above freezing. But in a few weeks the first wildflowers--trilliums--will begin blooming under the trees in the forest. Evry spring I send my sister an e-mail that says only, "Trillions of trilliums!" Since she lives a couple hundred miles north of me, she knows that she too will be seeing trilliums in a week or two.

My daily commute to the suburbs is now possible on the river MUP [I have been riding most of the winter on city streets...] A nice long, slow ride through this area would be a refreshing change. It's a wooded area that is mostly untraveled in the morning and often features hawks and of course lots of deer.

This would be particularly nice since I'm riding basically every day of the week, on top of a few household repair projects and I'm really starting to run out of energy. Maybe this would provide a little re-charge.

My daily commute to the suburbs is now possible on the river MUP [I have been riding most of the winter on city streets...] A nice long, slow ride through this area would be a refreshing change. It's a wooded area that is mostly untraveled in the morning and often features hawks and of course lots of deer.

This would be particularly nice since I'm riding basically every day of the week, on top of a few household repair projects and I'm really starting to run out of energy. Maybe this would provide a little re-charge.

I hear you there. At one time, my commute was a 7 mile trip with the middle 5 miles running down the center of a nature reserve. Morning traffic was coyotes, bobcats, skunks and hummingbirds.

I love getting away from the city and enjoying nature. This winter has been so cold I have mainly kept myself indoors, and it is taking it's toll. The wildlife down by the river here is great. Watching the pelicans dive for fish is one of my favorite things to do. I cannot wait for Spring.