I love being in nature for there are always astonishing discoveries to experience, times where nature's pure sapience fills one's body, recharging and renewing, illuminating new insights, stimulating brain cell growth, again and again revealing how amazing our planet truly is.
Here is another link to the video.
And what better to explore our planet than with Judy, the quintessential human incarnation of Na'vi princess Neytiri. I feel like a clod, tromping through the swamps, marshes and muck looking for the adventures Judy, with her worldmind, sees all around us both. I treasure her insights as Avatar's Jake learned to value Neytiri's appreciation for all things Eywa.
OK, if you haven't seen James Cameron's Avatar you must. I'd rank it as one of my top five movies ever. If it wasn't so late tonight I'd watch it again.
Back to Mashes Sands. Talking in the vehicle coming back from a morning of marsh and seashore exploration there, Judy with her heavy Canon and lenses and me with a backpack of recorders, microphones and waterproof bags, I commented about the entertaining vocal crow high up in the pine tree.
Crows are members of the Corvidae family, a group of birds sometimes referred to as the feathered apes due to their oft-studied high levels of intelligence. In fact crows have been supposed to possess brain capabilities comparable to a seven or eight year old human.
The morning's crow subject of our present conversation had been perched high in a seashore pine, mimicking blackbird calls from her lofty perch. Below the pine lay the restless open Gulf of Mexico on one side and a calm black-needlerush (Juncus roemerianus) lined tidal pond on the other side of the dune upon which the sap oozing tree grew.
Judy and I've learned to be quiet when we adventure wild and so the crow didn't pay much attention to us, at first. I marveled at just how much the Corvid's calling sounded so similar to the numerous red-winged blackbirds nesting and foraging in the shoreline rush. And the coolest part of it all, crow was obviously enjoying her mastery of red-winged blackbird mimicry. She puffed out her feathers, bobbed her head, back and forth, up and down, back and forth, up and down.
Pulling my internet device from my pocket I did a quick search to learn that some crows have been documented to be possess a mimicry repertoire of over forty different bird species calls. Mind expansion is one of the reasons why I love Florida's amazing native ecosystems. Not only do I learn, but I am healed by the salty taste of Gulf winds, wading bird calls, warm sunshine and the gentle lapping of waves up onto the sandy dunes.
Judy sat down on a weathered driftwood log with her camera, enjoying the beauty of the water's vast expanse lying before us. I moved near a small group of seagulls hoping to record their calls. However they were tongue-tied this morning and so I retreated to the needlerush lined tidal pond under crow's pine. The nesting red-winged blackbirds were calling en masse to their foraging mates, creating a splendid bird chorus.
Backpack off, I retrieved a small handheld Sony recorder, a mini-tripod to keep the recorder out of salty sand and what I call my 'dead rat', a faux-fur wind cover for the two speakers atop the small recorder. Assembling the three and pressing record then lock, I set the device in the sand near the pine tree.
Rather abruptly the crow twisted her head, staring at me and then staring at the rather diminutive, strange, shiny and hairy looking assemblage under her tree, changing her call without missing a beat from red-winged blackbird mimicry to a curiosity indicative rattle and bark typical crow utterance. The Corvid's rattle always catches my attention as it is a rather unique bird speak.
The crow wasn't scared. The crow was curious. Judy and I've learned to be still in the wilds, to be one with nature in mind and presence. Mostly wildlife and plants alike welcome us both, as crow did this morning. No need for the crow to feel threatened or fly, rather crow wanted to attract our attention, rattle and rattle and then chat, chat, chat. She had so much to say to us, her captive audience in the salt marsh.
A smile crept across my lips and I set down in the dune sand under crow's pine, positioning the recorder up towards the vocal bird. The crow called, rattled and spoke, allowing me the chance to capture a good bit of her voice. Rattling to keep my attention and as a display of her curiosity over Judy and I and the hairy recorder below her, then barking and chortling she was intent on communicating to us that the pine tree was hers and her's alone. She wanted us to stay put, pay attention and listen to her tell of how the rush belonged to red-winged blackbirds but the stately pine really was hers. And so she rattled and called, over and over.
Half hour later the sand gnats rude insistence began to bore me so I turned the Sony off and gathered my audio stuff up. Judy had moved around the tidal pond with her camera and I met up with her, and both of us a bit hungry, we returned down along the beach trail back to the beachfront port-a-potties and our SUV.
Now back to the return trip vehicle conversation I mentioned above; we discussed the crow, the beauty of nature and our deep feeling of healing and fulfillment from having spent the morning in the marsh. 'Nature always shares the unexpected', I said.
Judy turned to me and shared, 'You know we really do have our own fascinating Avatar planet right here, all around us. People could experience all the exotic wonders of our own Pandoran ecology right here on Earth, if we'd just open our eyes to see and ears to hear. If we'd just exist in the present reality.' Her perspective made me think of how the Na'vi would plug their braid into the neuronal connectors of Pandora's fauna and flora, creating a special symbiotic world mind junction between lifeforms. Our own planet has so much understanding and healing to offer, if we would just be willing to connect in real time to what is real, around us.
What an amazing perspective! The worldmind is ours if we just go out, look, smell, listen and experience nature.
Communion and conversation with the crow and Judy and Mother Nature. Nature and and a partner willing to adventure no matter the wilds; there is so much to learn and experience and there is nothing better in life.
No comments:
Post a Comment