It would be impossible for me to list all the ways in which people enjoy our surroundings or some aspect of nature and the outdoors. The common ground for most of these aspects comprises offering opportunities for diversion, learning, appreciation, awareness, exercise, entertainment and so on. Some or all of these can be a basis for just being fun.
This time of year, a common sound is the rapid rapping-tapping of any one of our various kinds of woodpeckers, including flickers and sapsuckers. It seems a dry branch, hollow tree trunk, a power pole or even some metal on a house roof are likely places that best transmit a loud and clear message. I recall several experiences to do with woodpeckers and power pole rapping.
Occasionally, a sapsucker raps on the pole supporting the electric line to the cabin. It’s amazing how sometimes the rapping seems much louder in the cabin than outside. The sound is transmitted through the wire. I have fun putting my ear to a power pole when a woodpecker is rapping at the top. However, I get a real earful when a pileated woodpecker is at it. Once, one of those crow-sized birds was hard at it on the top of a pole. I snuck to the bottom and put my ear to the pole. I thought the bird was right at my level. Shortly he began to “ratchet” down the pole to check out this eavesdropper. I could hear distinctly its claws clutching the pole with each short descent. It was getting very close. I thought it would rap on my head. Then I could hear its claws let go and its wings brush the pole as it took off for more interesting pursuits.
Another fun thing is to go to the next power pole from where a woodpecker is rapping and listen with my ear against the pole. I can hear the sound as clearly as when I am standing away from the pole. I have a hard time getting close to woodpeckers but this is one way to get close, not by sight but by sound.
Nuthatches that choose to use a tree cavity for nesting instead of one of my bird boxes spend quite a few days carving a site. It’s much easier for them if they choose a rotting stub in the birch tree. Today I watched one doing just that. I could distinctly hear the pecking of this small bird through the tree trunk. These little fun experiences remind me of how we kids used to use tin can “telephones”. (That is something else I remember from grade school science.) Now let’s amble off to a different area.
There are some very large, colourful moths that, starting around mid-July and well into the month of August, hatch out and at night fly around our neighbourhoods. If they are seen on a tree trunk or some other grey surface they are not apt to be recognized because their brightly coloured white-, orange-, or red- and black-striped hind wings or underwings are covered over, when resting, by the mottled grey forewings. But there is a trick to enable seeing them in action.
You may need to start preparing now. Mix up some apple juice with fancy molasses, cover it loosely, store at room temperature and let it ferment for a month or two. The concoction may thicken as some of it evaporates. In late July, with a clean or new paintbrush, on a cloudy, calm evening, paint a vertical strip on the trunks of a few trees away from any artificial lights. One to two hours after dark, check out the trees. Take along a camera and also a flashlight which you should, at first, avoid shining directly on the bait as it may startle any visiting moths. If you are a bit late on preparing the concoction, use a little rum and molasses. Do this over occasionally over a month and see what happens. You may be in for some surprises.
There is one thing that is required to a lesser or greater degree to have fun in nature. That is patience. The experiences, where one actually stops for a few minutes or longer and gives full attention to the event, will have much more meaningful and long-lasting memories. We say a lot without saying much when we ask a photographer how they got such interesting and/or beautiful photos. What do you think they will say? Some say, “Stop at the ‘signs’, not just slow down,” or, “Stop, look and listen.” Others suggest taking time to smell the flowers. Another may say, “To catch a butterfly, sit down on a log. It will come to you.”
Ed McMackin is a biologist by profession but a naturalist and hiker by nature. He can be reached at 250-866-5747.
