Survival tips from The Naturist

Huh. It's almost like being in the woods with my husband.



I nearly died laughing.

Hearts All Around - Part 4

It's finally here, Valentine's Day! Drab and dreary outside today, but the online world is all lovey and hearty and warm. Perfect time to share the rest of my Valentine Series.
First up is a divinely beautiful specimen I spotted while we were hiking the Meigs Mountain Trail in the Smokies. This curled bit of wild grapevine was unbelievable!



Next, a formation found in the melting ice on our driveway. This one I've highlighted so you can see it better. You can probably spot other shapes in there, it's like a Rorschach ink blot. Don't get all pervy!

I'll post the fifth and final installment of the Valentine Series later today. I'm saving my favorite heart finds for last!

Hearts All Around - Part 2

Second installment in the Valentine Series is a little beauty I observed along the Spruce Fir Trail the day I lost my glove (see Monday's post).
A tree had fallen across the trail and rangers sawed it apart to clear the path. A unique formation was revealed!

Happy little trees

This happy little tree looks pretty psyched about the snow.... I couldn't agree more!
We saw this along the Twin Creeks Trail in Gatlinburg.
It is a rare treat for us to be able to hike and enjoy falling snow at the same time. So far this winter season we've had that privilege twice. Still, I hope for a few more repeats :-)

It's a rainy day....

.... so let's look at my terrariums! They're so green and cheerful in my kitchen window. Made from recycled jars and bottles, gravel, potting soil, spanish moss, and a variety of green mosses. I did not include charcoal for aeration, I remove and replace the lids in a cycle over the day and I'll see how that goes.

It's crow season again!

When I say that, I don't mean it in a Daffy Duck/Bugs Bunny "rabbit season! duck season!" kind of way. What I do mean is that we've reached the time of year when the various crow clans around our city start gathering together in the evenings and roost together overnight in a massive flock, a "murder".

For several years I've observed them flocking to one location in particular as dusk approaches. Occasionally they gather in other spots within a mile of that 'headquarters'. These locations vary over time - I've seen them abandon two locations due to human interference (ie: clear-cutting of trees). I've not stayed around to see if they roost at HQ or move onward to another area, but I hope to find out this season.

As you can see I am quite interested in crows (and ravens) (and birds in general) and that led me to an interesting discovery. Crow calling. I ran across crow calls in the hunting department of Bass Pro (I do NOT hunt), and decided to purchase one. I wondered if it would really work to get their attention and bring them near so I could get a better look at them.

Successful? Oh Yes. I'd say my crow caller has about an 80% success rate of bringing crows in when I use it, if not better. The first time I tried it out in the mountains (where we often hear crows cawing), we were swarmed by a small stormtrooper-like squadron that circled the treetops for a couple minutes and made such a huge racket!

Sometimes when I call crows, they answer back but keep their distance and don't fly in closer to investigate. They usually seem to respond most strongly to caws in bursts of 5, 7 and 9, as opposed to lesser numbered or even numbered caws. Oddly enough, this is similar with my own bird (a cockatiel) - he responds best to and prefers to mimic sequences of 5 or 7 finger-taps upon his cage bottom or a table top (he hammers back like a woodpecker).

This video was taken last weekend in the mountains. Sorry for the Blair Witch-like visual, you can't see much but the sound is OK :-) We were in an area which crows frequent, and we heard them cawing in the distance. I got out my caller and sent out a sequence of 7 calls. Within about 30 seconds two came to investigate us. As usual, we stood still and watched as the crows circled above the trees. A third did a single fly-by and left. The two who stayed were very vocal, and we heard others probably about a mile away but they did not come. One mostly perched in a treetop while the other circled around. I gave 5 caws, then 4 caws (they responded well to both), then after about a minute they headed onward.

The most crows that have ever flown in after a call has been about 10, which can be rather unsettling when they get into full clamor. They always leave within a few minutes of locating us.

Crow quotes:
"Crow is an omen of change. Crow lives in the void and has no sense of time. The Ancient Chiefs tell us that Crow sees simultaneously the three fates - past, present and future. Crow merges light and darkness, seeing both inner and outer reality."