September Sunrise The Wood Duck Trail JohnFirst light inched above the horizon while nighttime silence enveloped us as we walked slowly down the Wood Duck Trail on our way to a sit spot. In the dim light my feet touch-stepped over the roots and rocks and the up and down contours of the trail. I was glad to walk slowly. It was an opportunity to prepare for our sit spot, a chance to even out my breathing and open my…
The question in my mind as I walked up the side of the elevated sand mound was clear. Could I experience a deep nature connection conducting an hour long sit spot right in my back yard? I thought the answer was yes, given that nature was most likely just as rich and complex in my backyard as in some remote and wild park or forest. It was an important question for me. I hoped to demonstrate that the sit spot…
Prologue John It’s a different story taking another person to an early morning sit spot. On my own, I get there when I get there. But with a guest there is a schedule, in this case a 6:15 a.m. meet up so I needed to get up at 5:15. Worried about being on time I woke up during a night of restless sleep to check the time. I noticed other concerns winding in and out of my dream. How much…
Beyond the end of the boardwalk bands of orange and yellow inched into the sky. I would make it to the beach in time for the sunrise. The issue had been in doubt. It had been a noisy night at the campground with devotees of the Southern rock jam band Widespread Panic holding a raucous after concert party. Finally at 4 in the morning, in despair, I crawled out of my sleeping bag, stumbled out of the tent, and staggered…
For the majority of enthusiasts, however, birdwatching simply provides a personal and very special entrée into the natural world. Graeme Gibson Day 1 Faint first light, swirls of yellow and orange edging above the southern horizon, the excitement of an early morning winter sit spot— this all felt familiar. The difference was I didn’t have to layer up, drive on icy roads, and trudge through deep snow to get to my destination. Instead, I was seated in…
As I edged the car door open six crows flew in suddenly, circled around a tall tree in the dim pre-dawn light, cawed loudly and continuously, landed in the gray skeletal branches, jumped back in the air, and landed again. I cautiously opened the door the rest of the way and stepped out. The crows fell silent and perched peacefully in the branches. Quite a greeting I thought as shouldered my gear preparing to walk through the woods to my…
It was that morning in October, the one after a night of heavy rain and strong wind that knocked down the leaves and now the bare branches looked more like November and it was no longer possible to think that somehow the warm days of October might go on forever. As I walked across my yard in the dim, gray, pre-dawn light I saw the gray-black, skeletal silhouettes of ash and maple trees, silent forest sentinels that would have to…
I couldn’t pinpoint the moment when I descended into a state of melancholy, a state where I felt discouraged, tired, hopeless, annoyed, even sad. As usual it was some litany of little things that added up; a misunderstanding with a friend, no clear way forward on a task that needed to be done, an appliance breaking down, persistent bad weather, an aching knee. And maybe there were bigger things lurking in the background; a worrisome health problem, a family member…
The first rays of morning sunshine pierced the dark green woods at the far end of Hankins Pond. Haunting rising and falling kek kek kek calls carried through the swirling strands of gray mist that floated over the pond. I stepped onto dew laden grass, slipped on my binocular harness, shouldered my camp stool, spotting scope and backpack, and began a slow, transition-into-nature walk down the old road that ran along the edge of the pond. I had come to…
My self-prescribed assignment was to pay attention to nature as I walked to the beaver pond where I planned to conduct an hour long sit spot. I needed this. I felt strangely depleted. Nothing life threatening bearing down, but just a lot of different, mostly good, things to get done; morning and afternoon webinars to deliver over the next two days, clinical case reports to proof and edit, road construction and tree removal bids for the borough to review, and…