Quick Goodbye (for the moment)

[tdogg]

Wow Dash, what an experience.

another one I had - birding alone (not always a good idea) just south of where i live in a wetland area. A northern harrier female - this is a hawk type raptor that is about the most amazing flyer around, and they have owl-like faces (facial disk), the females are a rich brown varied color - anyway, I was standing very quiet watching her swoop in, out and around the levy looking for lunch, and then she flew over to where I was standing, and not more than 5 or 6 feet away, she passed by me. We made eye contact, as two strong independent women - one with nature, and then she turned her head and soared away back to the levy. I was left breathless and amazed.

That is the one moment I could relive every day of my life.

Bats are harmless if you just stand still and let them be. My fear, ants! Not afraid of an ant per se, but the thought of ant trails all over my body makes me quake uncontrollably!!

[Dash]

That is AWESOME tdogg!!! I totally understand that!

(I think this is why I show up as a little "neo-pagan" on Beliefnet.com)

[Jennifer5]

You both had great stories! Sounds like fun!

[tdogg]

When I take people out birding, often they will look around and talk and walk and say where are all the birds? It's a learned thing, but I find that if I become still, quiet breathing, observing the life around me without being intrusive, after a brief time it's like I meld into nature and become just like the life around me - birds, animals, plants - kinda weird but yes, awesome at the same time! But it takes practice, patience and some alone time! It's like, to relate to nature you have to reach nature at its own level, become the same as the nature around you.

Much like relating to small children, they will trust you more when you bend down, talk soft and relate to them on their level. Animals too.

I'm a total nature freak Dash, maybe I"ll check out the web site, probably a little neo-pagan myself!! (I can totally picture you covered in the soft wonder of Monarch butterflies...)

[Zerbie]

That's exactly right Tdogg!!!

So many people go to "watch" nature from outside. So how exactly is that different from watching TV?

No no. Reach out and feel the nature of the life you are observing.

I always like the end of the bat flight best. At the beginning, the stadium full of people is noisy, hyper, unsettling. Within 10 minutes 75% of those people get bored and head for their cars. By the end of the hour, 90% of them have left. Then it is quiet. You can hear the almost inaudible brush of tiny bat wings against the twilight sky. You can intuit the logic in the pattern of their movement. At this point in the bat flight, I become the bats. Oh, no, not literally. But I lie down on the bench looking right up into the sky and allow my imagination to meld me in with the bats. And inside I fly with them, and learn a little bit about what bat-being is.

[Jennifer5]

wow, I didn't realize there was to much to birding... sounds amazing

[tdogg]

You said it exactly Zerbie! If you just wait around, eventually most if not all others will leave and then you can become one with nature in your heart. Fortunately, like you, I have a lot of patience and can wait out the stubbornest loudmouth!

Jennifer, birding is amazing. The comment most people have when birding for the first time is "I never knew there were so many different kinds of birds!"

[Zerbie]

Originally Posted by tdogg

You said it exactly Zerbie! If you just wait around, eventually most if not all others will leave and then you can become one with nature in your heart. Fortunately, like you, I have a lot of patience and can wait out the stubbornest loudmouth!

s!"

Yep! That's how it is.