Wildest Nature and Amazing Animals - select readings

 

• Crows don't forget a face
• Mosquitoes Kill More Humans Than Human Murderers Do
• In the eye of the beholder
• Stikiness
• Behind the Scenes at the National Zoo With the World’s Most Dangerous Bird
• Meet The Indian Giant Squirrel That Looks Like A Dr. Seuss Concoction
• The Extraordinary Life of the Freed Slave Who Taught Darwin Taxidermy
• The Vital and Surprising Role of Driftwood
• Twenty-six Real Animals That Shouldn’t Exist, But Do Anyway
• A Gift of Nature
• All but ageless, Turtles face their biggest threat: Humans
• All dogs go to heaven
• Animal world's communication kings
• Are they Ravens or Crows?
• Clint Eastwood versus Mr. Ed
• Collars Reveal Just How Extreme Cheetahs Can Be
• In an NC swamp, researcher finds tree older than Christianity. Could there be more?
• Interview with Sir David Attenborough
• Lyre Birds imitate construction work sounds and chainsaws
• Meet The Brown Bear Serving A Life Sentence In A Kazakh Prison
• Moment in Nature - Idaho Hot Springs
• North American birds interactive migration map
• Obscure mountain ranges of southern Idaho, NW Utah, and Eastern Nevada
• Swarm of bees follow grandmother's car for over 24 hours attempting to rescue their queen
• Vultures of Pennsylvania: Black vs. turkey, their differences and similarities
• Why nightingales are snubbing Berkeley Square for the Tiergarten
• Why Scientists Are Starting to Care About Cultures That Talk to Whales
• Wildest Nature
• Woman keeps same pet tortoise for 56 years
• World's Tallest Man Saves Dolphin

Hailey, too, has an enchanted forest

On September 30^th, a young couple suddenly found themselves in a crunch to move to a new house before the harsh Idaho Winter set in. They heard about one down by the river in Hailey, with a nice big yard and within easy walking distance to town. They visited the potential house, and remarked that the surrounding neighborhood felt like it held a good vibe. Soon after saying this, a wild rabbit in the yard let them walk up to it and pet it! There, at the edge of the woods, the rabbit almost fell asleep, while they gently stroked its soft white fur.

*

The young couple stood outside talking, with the people currently renting the house. While doing so, the rabbit rebounded from the far side of the yard, and started performing an elaborate little dance. It spun and sprinted in little counter-clockwise circles, while playfully kicking up its spiffy heels. They had never seen before such a happy bunny, with characteristics and personality bordering that of a loyal dog.

*

The young couple conveyed the story to a handful of friends, wondering if this was a good sign, for them to move into the new house. One of the friends noticed that the cheerful event had occurred at the end of the month, which, while involving a rabbit clearly held strong connections to mystery and myth. Folks from many cultures believe that if you encounter a rabbit when the calendar is turning, or recite “Rabbit, Rabbit!” as your first spoken words of the new month, then this will bring you good fortune.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_rabbit

Perhaps the fact that the young couple is closely connected to the earth was something sensed by the excitable bunny. Regardless, The couple decided to move into the new house, and I’m looking forward to hearing more about their future encounters with the swift acrobatic lucky rabbit.

This remarkable nature encounter reminded me of another anomalous event that occurred in the same neck of woods a few years before, which is the tale of:

The Owl and the money clip

At their old Hailey place, Robin and Tonia had lived together with their children, and a single mother and her kids. This arrangement worked well in some respects, but it was also a bit cramped, which tends to get worse during long Idaho winters. Both families had traveled down to the Bellevue Triangle a few times to look at a prospective house that was larger. All four kids loved it, as did Tonia and her single mother friend. Robin wasn’t so sure though. After all, they had already moved earlier that same year. His hesitation was understandable, as the new house cost more and he is the main breadwinner.

*

With the deadline looming to give notice, Robin was feeling the pressure to decide soon; and on the last day of the month, he vociferously announced that evening that he was “going off fishing.” He hiked down to The Draper Preserve, specifically to spend some time alone and reflect on the difficult decision. After casting some nice lines, the evening progressed into twilight, when suddenly an enormous great horned owl, swooped down 40 feet over the river and dropped something shiny in the water. Robin waded out carefully to where the owl dropped the item and discovered that it was an empty money clip. Examining it closer, he discovered that the silver was emblazoned with his very own initials!

*

Robin took the owl’s message as a powerful sign, which helped him decide that his family would be better off if they made the big move, which they did and are still happy about today. Something else interesting about this story is that most people that we’ve shared it with agree that they probably would have made the same progressive decision to move, even though the owl had dropped an empty money clip. One friend even opined that it’s healthy to get out to explore nature when we’re faced with such huge life-changing decisions. And it’s certainly nice to be given powerful bird and rabbit auguries to help guide those choices. While our money clips may start out empty; sometimes with enough fortitude, stick-to-it-ness, and a developed sense of listening closely to what nature is trying to tell us, miraculous pennies from heaven will shine, rewarding us plentifully in due time.

The Owl and the Money Clip

Here's a story from Jim Banholzer that involves owl medicine. He heard it from a friend, Tonia, after he helped her and her husband Robin, move into a new house near Bellevue.
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At their old Ketchum place, Robin and Tonia had lived together with their children and a single mother, an arrangement that worked out great in some aspects, but also was a bit cramped, which tends to get worse during harsh Idaho winters. Both families had traveled down a few times to look at the prospective larger house. All four kids loved it, as did Tonia and her single-mother friend. Robin wasn’t so sure though; after all, they had already moved earlier that same year. His hesitation was understandable, as the new house cost more and he is the main breadwinner.

With the pressure on to decide soon, one evening Robin vociferously announced that he was “going fishing.” He walked down to the Big Wood River to spend some time alone and to specifically reflect on their situation. As twilight progressed, an enormous great horned owl swooped down over the water and dropped something shiny. Robin carefully waded out to where the owl dropped the item and discovered it was an empty money clip. Examining it closer, he saw that the silver was emblazoned with his own initials!

Robin took the owl’s message as a powerful sign, which helped him, decide that his family would be better off if they made the big move. Coincidentally, a few months previous, at their old house I had dropped off some animal totem books, including one that focused on birds as messengers. On a whim, I marked one of the owl stories with a copy of my own owl story, using it as a bookmark. It's called The Midday Owl who Withdrew from the Bank.

What’s interesting about this story is that most people who hear it agree that they would have made the same decision, even though the owl had dropped an empty money clip. One friend even opined that it’s healthy to get out in nature when making such large life-changing decisions and that it was a nice enough to be given such a powerful bird-augury to help with the choice; as pennies from heaven will arrive in their own due time.

Fresh Healing Angles

Five summers ago, at the little Idaho hideaway cabin where I lived, I pruned back a sugar maple branch, to affix a small suet feeder, six feet off the ground. The maple was adjacent to some cottonwoods by a trickling creek. The brook was a lifeline for birds, especially magpies, kingfishers and the occasional mysterious owl. After attaching the birdfeeder, I found that we needed to refresh the suet, around twice a month. I usually remembered to do this on time. However, toward the end of summer, I realized that I had forgotten to check it for a while, walked over and found it full of some unidentifiable black goo. At first, I thought that the suet had turned rancid, but then, while prying the object out, I realized there were black feathers attached and something sadder had happened – a poor blackbird had become stuck inside the feeder and was unable to extract itself, leading to its untimely death.

I shuddered slightly and immediately looked at it as a bad omen. To me the bird augury was powerful enough that I decided to keep it a secret from my housemate, so as not to frighten her. I didn’t think much more about the matter, until a few weeks later: While winterizing the grounds, I placed a large tarp over a tent next to the maple. As I made a broad swooping motion with the tarp, the same sharp branch I had pruned earlier, speared through my ear and into the side of my head. It was a Tuesday afternoon and almost five o-clock. After standing there stunned for a few seconds, trying to figure out what had hit me, I realized the severity of the situation. I was alone and bleeding profusely from the left side of my head. Hastily, I rounded up the dog, grabbed a small towel, to press against the wound and drove 2 & 1/2 miles to our local emergency room.

It’s a small hospital, but well-staffed. As I arrived, something deep inside, switched my gears into survival mode, and helped to rally me through the surgery. I cracked a few jokes about my dilemma to the physician and his assistant, hoping this would put all three of us more at ease. (I truly believe that there are cases where if you act like a jerk, your level of quality service is apt to diminish.) This seemed to help, but while examining the complexity of damage, the young doctor expressed hesitation as to whether he could stitch my ear back together properly, and suggested that I may need to transfer to a Boise hospital. That was going to be a long expensive haul and I was not looking forward to seeing a specialist three hours away.

However, right then, a visiting plastic surgeon *just happened by* our emergency room to see the problem. He encouraged the attending physician to try a specific stitching method and even made some animated motions of how to do this. After the physician made a few careful stitches with the newly suggested method, he soon gained more confidence. The visiting plastic surgeon saw the doctor was getting it right, so he left us alone. Soon all was well and I was back at work the next afternoon. However, a few weeks later, my housemate broke me the bad news that the developer, who bought our tiny tumbledown shack, would soon be smashing it to smithereens and we would have to move.

(One of the new property owners speculated that they would try to save the maple, because such trees are rare in this climate and its vibrancy would enhance the property. However, the maple is gone and we’re not sure what happened.)

Meanwhile, the Near Death Experience trauma from the sweet sugar maple seeded something new into me. It forced me to reflect hard about the haphazard direction of my life and slowed me down enough to dedicate some quiet time to writing. In the five years since the incident, I’ve had a small measure of success at this. I feel strongly that writing about items of a meaningful nature is something I should be dedicated to for several hours each week.

Until now, I have shared this personal tale with only a handful of friends. Yesterday evening I recounted it to a new friend. She is a professional Hypnotherapist, recently transplanted to Idaho from Africa, and I am helping her with her Bio. While getting to know her, she has earned my trust in her powers of intuition and yesterday she expressed a new viewpoint of what happened that evening in the emergency room. When I told her that I never caught the name of the professional plastic surgeon that walked by at that synchronistic moment, she suggested that I have not yet fathomed the extent of what actually occurred. She claims that even if I tried hard, I would not be able to discover the Good Samaritan’s name, because he is not a human being. Rather she believes he is a guardian angel, who sensed that my time here on earth five years ago, was not yet finished, and that I still had some good work to give.

Yesterday, I told my friend T about Jim Dee’s and my similar gemstone posts. T was returning some boxes to make my move easier, as last week; I had helped her family move to a nicer place. As I started mentioning Jim Dee’s spiritual awakening with stones and animal totems, it reminded her of an experience her husband, R, recently had:

At the old place, where R and T recently moved out of, a single mother had come to live with them, which worked out great in some respects, but also felt a little cramped, which tends to get worse during harsh Idaho winters. Both families had gone down to look at the prospective larger house a few times. All four kids loved it, as did T and her single-mother friend. R wasn’t so sure though; after all, they had already moved earlier this year. His hesitation was understandable, as the new house costs more and he is the main breadwinner.

With the pressure on to decide soon, one evening R vociferously announced that he was “going fishing.” He walked down to the river to spend some time alone and reflect. As the evening twilight progressed, an enormous owl swooped down over the water and dropped something shiny in. R walked in the water to where the owl dropped the item and discovered an empty money clip. Examining it closer he saw that the silver was emblazoned with his own initials!

Since he had specifically come down to the water to reflect on what the best thing to do would be, R took the owl’s message as a sign, which helped him, decide that his family would be better off in the end if they made the move (which I just helped them with). Coincidently, a few months ago, at their old house I had dropped off some animal totem books, including the one by Trish. On a whim, I inserted in one of the owl chapters, as a bookmark, my own story; The midday owl who withdrew from the bank. http://www.mtexpress.com/story_printer.php?ID=2005109225

What’s interesting about this story, is that it’s the same story that forty moons ago, I sent to Trish, when I saw a sentence towards the end of her and Millie’s totem book, which asked readers to contact them, if they had any interesting animal encounter stories of their own. In other words, the same story I stuck in their book is the same story that led to Rob MacGregor's and my internet friendship and enduring exchange of ideas!

When I first saw the owl in my story, I wrote a rough draft about it, but was uncertain about submitting something so out there. During a telephone session with Enhique the shaman from Brazil, the wise man stated that the owl “was a gift.” This encouraged me to rewrite the story a few times, which the Express published in April 2006.

The way, I’m looking at it now is that it’s a gift that keeps on giving.

Bumming around Richfield Canal

Last winter, on a rare earth warm day, a friend and I escaped some of technologies tentacles for a healthy bask, out in the desert sun. Bringing along the mandatory dog, we found a not-so-muddy trail - an uncommon February treat for these parts. We went below Magic. –Reservoir that is, chopping out tiny ice archipelagos for Lucas the dog, to bound in between, as we hurled pointed sticks for him to chase, to and fro, betwixt the slow channel’s miniature floating islands.

It felt rewarding, to gather these essential vitamin sunshine bits in the midst of winter. I hadn’t been out that way for a while. As we returned from our day in the sun, I suddenly recollected hearing a strange experience that another friend had talked about, ten years before. She was out in the same area, near where the river parallels the canal. It’s a great place to get away from it all, with always a few lava rocks or other objects of interest worth picking up to examine. As I remember it, my art-entranced friend, was walking along the dry creek bed, scrutinizing shimmering sun-patterned lava rock. Suddenly a saw-whet owl whooshed out from under the solid creek bed and smacked her clean in the forehead, with enough stunning force to spill her sharply into the glazed river rock.

My friend cut short her nature trek, due to this hard cuff to the forehead. Upon returning home, she received the message that her mother had passed on! It took me almost ten years to consider that perhaps the owl was in some mysterious way, a messenger connected with this omen. When I shared this message with another friend, she got the chills too, because, the day her mother passed on, an owl had been hanging around their doorsill, fluttering about for half the day, behaving in unusual ways.

This caused me to Google, Profound Supernatural Owl Meanings, which, upon further inspection, helped me to understand that there is a lot more out there, than what we’ve been led to believe.