outdoors

Animals on the Refuge

animalia7 South Carolina Tags: , , , , , 1 Comment

Though you might not realize it from reading my blog, there are in fact other animals at Carolina Sandhills in addition to red-cockaded woodpeckers. Here are a few pictures of some of them and fellow intern Whitney’s arms. There may be a full-body shot in there somewhere too.

We found a turtle! This is a male yellow-bellied slider. Male because it’s flat on the bottom (in fancy terms his plastron is slightly concave). The theory is that this helps the males to climb on top of the females when they breed.

I like the shadow of Whitney’s hands and the turtle on the ground.

We found a small tiny lizard that tried to climb Whitney’s pant leg during one of our vegetation surveys.  Our best guess is eastern fence lizard. Whatever it is, it’s cute.

Whitney found a land snail and brought it in the kitchen! She was outside the bunkhouse one evening making a phone call, and found this dude on the stoop. Actually, this snail might be a dudette, or both (many snails are hermaphrodites) so let’s just stick with “dude.”

One afternoon as we were driving back to the office, we saw a dark shape lumbering down Wildlife Drive. We first thought it might be a raccoon, but as we got closer we realized it was a beaver. We stopped the truck a respectable distance away, got out, and took some pictures. Instead of staying away from us, the beaver strolled right up, crossed the road in front of the tuck, and trundled along just a few feet away from where Whitney was crouched taking pictures. It then crossed back over the road and headed into the pond.

Close encounters of the beaver kind.

The Beaver Song, which I learned from Chris at Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm. There are also hand motions, which I’d be more than happy to show you sometime. I only remember the chorus, which is a call and response.

Long tail (Long tail)
Big buck teeth (Big buck teeth)
Swimmin in the water (Swimmin in the water)
Chewing on trees (Chewing on trees)
Building up a dam (Building up a dam)
You know who I am (You know who I am)
I’m a Beaver, I’m a Beaver, I’m a Beaver! (I’m a Beaver. I’m a Beaver. I’m a Beaver!)

Swimming away, looking for trees to gnaw on.

Beavers can weigh up to 60lbs, and can be 23 to 39 inches long, excluding the tail, which adds an additional 8 to 12 inches. Not something you typically expect to see trucking down a paved road in the middle of the afternoon, especially as beavers are usually nocturnal.

And these pictures don’t have Whitney in them (and therefore are not nearly as interesting) but I did find this really neat insect while I was cleaning my peeper– the telescoping camera we use to look in woodpecker cavities. Not sure what it is, but it’s cool!

Climbing Obed

animalia7 Rock Climbing, Tennessee Tags: , , , Leave a comment
“Yet what struck me all at once was how breath-taking and bizarre climbing was. You could never stay bored: the risk alone keeps your synapses jangling. It was not simply that most non-climbers would be freaked out of their minds to find themselves where I was standing on the edges of my big toes 150 feet off the ground. It was that there was something special about the sport, some intricacy of deed that takes hold of the spirit and asks it fundamental questions. All climbers are ambivalent about climbing; yet we all find it hard to quit, and it is impossible to forget the surpassing joy of our good days in the mountains.”
~David Roberts, from Moments of Doubt
This past weekend I met up with two friends, Lucas and Blake, and went climbing at a place called Obed Wild and Scenic River, which is in Tennessee. It is an amazing place, with lots of rocks, brilliant green plants and trees, and winding rivers and stream beds. There are lots of things to do there other than climbing, not that I partook. I hope I can go back sometime soon and spend more time in the area (and climb some more rocks!)
I hadn’t climbed since just before Christmas, so my climbing muscles had gotten much wimpier than I liked (or pretended they were. In my head I can climb all day with arms of steel). Turns out that if you want to climb spending the winter in Florida is not the best place to be.  Go figure. So when I had the chance to go climbing in Tennessee, I jumped in the car and rode like the wind (if the wind goes a consistent 65 mph down the highway). I spent Saturday and Sunday at Obed, mostly just hanging out and watching Blake and Lucas, but I had a wonderful time. It was so nice to be around climbers again, people who use words like “crimpers,” “slopers,” “red-point,” “pumped” in pretty much any conversation, and spend inordinate amounts of time discussing climbing shoes, ropes, and routes. I haven’t been around serious climbers in a long time, so it was fun to be immersed in the climbing jargon again. I felt like I was in another universe, one that I’d been away from for too long. It was great.
Blake and Lucas getting ready to climb.
Lucas climbing.
One of the areas where we climbed. All of these routes were too hard for me, so I just took pictures and belayed.
Blake, almost at the end of the climbing route (the edge of the overhang).
The view from my tent.
Neat old truck at the campsite.
A cute dog from a nearby campsite that helped me pack up my tent  and then played fetch with me. Afterwards he decided we were inseparable and jumped right in the front seat of my car. He was ready to go back to South Carolina, though he maybe wouldn’t have been so eager had he known about the 6 hour drive.
I wish I could climb trees like this snake can, it would make climbing trees to band RCW chicks much easier!
Why hello up there Mr. Snake.

I had a fantastic time climbing this past weekend, and hopefully it won’t be another five months before I can climb again!

My heart belongs to the desert

animalia7 Arizona, Poetry and Stories Tags: , , Leave a comment
My heart belongs to the desert; land of sun, dirt, rock.
I am the raven, dark shadow on the red rock wall. I am the sage, slowly crinkling in the sun. I am the rock pinnacle, rising out of the flat. I am the sun, browning rows of fence. I am the road, pavement stretching on into the horizon. I am the hawk on the fence post, waiting. I am the jackrabbit, listening. I am the bone-thin horse, running. I am the wind, touching every grass, every particle of dust.  I am the hard-baked earth, cracked and parched.  I am the tree, twisted by life without. I am the beetle, crawling. I am the coyote, spilling secrets to the stars. I am the bright moon, giving light to those who cannot see. I am the traveler, sleeping in the night-cold, peaceful.
I am the one standing on the rise, greeting the rising sun with my own spirit-light, the light within merging with the light without.
All pictures were taken in Utah (2011) during a road trip taken with my friend Max from Ohio to Colorado, via all sorts of interesting places like the Red River Gorge in Kentucky, New Orleans, the freeway system of Texas (not really), New Mexico, and Utah. This piece was written during that same trip. 

Kalmia Gardens

animalia7 South Carolina Tags: , , , Leave a comment
Yesterday I journeyed to a beautiful quiet part of Hartsville called Kalmia Gardens. I’d driven past it a few times on my way into town for supplies (conveniently, it’s just down the street from Bi-Lo, the local grocery store). After driving past the intricately wrought gates a few times, I knew I had to explore. The drive into the gardens is narrow and easy to miss, hidden behind dense foliage. As with many truly beautiful things, one needs to look deeper in order to see.
Kalmia Gardens are quite unlike Carolina Sandhills. Here we have pines, tall and open, the soil sandy and covered with a thick layer of browned needles. The gardens are another place entirely, reminding me strongly of the tropics. Thick layers all around, the sunlight filtered through dark green leaves, vines holding all the trees together, growing over and in and on top of everything.
There is also water here, streams, rivers, the soil is dark with water. With water comes lush life, bursts of colored flowers growing everywhere they can.
I’ve always liked marigolds, their scent and their sturdiness. Their yellow petals remind me of the ruffles on a dress of a little girl, running in the bright sun after dandelion fluff, in her hair a yellow bow that perfectly matches the ruffles on her dress and tiny socks. The brightness of her joy hides any grass stains on her knees and skirt, the dirt on her face disappearing as she grins and shrieks with happiness.
The gardens have a slightly disorderly feel to them, which I love. In a place like Kalmia Gardens, one can imagine the spirits of the plants, wood sprites and water nymphs, peering from behind the lilies or having a merry picnic on the banks of the pond, cavorting and singing with the robins. The wrens, nimble in the mountain laurel, let loose a tumble of liquid sound before diving away into the shadows, perhaps to find a meal for their young in the nest.
If you’re interested in the history of the gardens, there is the Kalmia gardens website: http://www.kalmiagardens.org
Happy Mother’s Day Mom!
Every flower I see reminds me of you and all of the wonderful ways you have made my life beautiful. Thank you for showing me the beauty in every living thing, and for teaching me how to properly dead-head. Without you, my marigold-self would be scraggly, with all sorts of ugly bits hanging here and there. Thanks for keeping me dead-headed and helping me to grown into myself.
I love you Mommy! You’re the best Mom I’ve ever had 🙂