The Woods Are Alive!

Nesting phase concluded, the hawks and
the owls have moved along. Leaving to us
the cardinals, robins and goldfinches to flit
through the trees, singing their territorial
tunes and their glorious songs of life's
adventures. Gone the nuthatches and
chickadees, the blue jays and the song
sparrows, but just for the nonce; they are
destined to return to join woodpeckers
busily exploiting the forest's resources.

Large, black squawking crow juveniles
still imploring sustenance from their harried
parents and silent chipmunks enliven the
environment as they slip through the canopy
and the dense-brackened understory.
Scolding red squirrels roast our ears as
we obligingly leave the day's offerings. In
our wake, suddenly appear hordes of
peanut-addicted grey, reds and blacks.

Gone now, the ripe red strawberries and
bright orange hawkweed. In their place juicy-
red raspberries and just-blooming pink thimble-
berry. Cowvetch runs amok over ferns and
hazelnut shrubs, between cinquefoil and
daisies, fleabane and buttercups; a riot of
colour. Giant pines spread out in the forest
their green limbs a sheltering structure.

Sharing the landscape of this forest arras,
elm, maple, fir, spruce, ironwood, poplar,
cedar and ash. Many agonized by the sharp
thrusts of a Pileated woodpecker's search,
bleeding sap. The trees creak and sway,
grate trunks under the prevailing winds that
gust through this place, accompanying sudden
cloudbursts swelling the lazy creek to roar.

Gone now the days when grouse and partridge,
fox and raccoons, the occasional porcupine
and skunk might appear during our woodland
rambles. In the winter months when snow is
banked high and the ground is solidly frozen
coyotes appear at dusk and at dawn, and deer
are sometimes seen, venturing beyond their
usual places of refuge. These are rare occasions
when deer move closer to human habitation.

On these hot and humid summer days, we
see hares silently appear on the trails, and just
as silently depart. We delight in each new
sighting of bold chipmunks, downy woodpeckers,
chattering squirrels and chickadees awaiting
homage. Or the appearance of a colourful
fungus, a brown-speckled toad out of its element.
Red-winged blackbirds, constant revelations of
life; endless, welcoming, mysterious cycle.