Saturday, May 21, 2011

Death and Life in the Ponderosa Forest

     Early this morning I set out to hike in the the nearby forest. The ground still wet from recent weather was drying quickly. I stepped across a fence line broken by a giant fallen snag. A few yards past the fence was an ominously placed elk hide hanging in the branches of a tree. It must have been there for a long while as the smell of death was barely present.

     Shaking off the heebee jeebees, I left the scene to explore the recent slash and burn areas nearby. There at the edge of the blackened earth I found a fallen bird nest. I have always loved collecting nests. they represent a connection with another world for me, a world of flight. They also signify an intimate relationship with the environment that is stripped to its bare essentials.
     As I made my way back along the fence line, I was stopped in my tracks by a dark lizard lying still in the grass. Unwilling to break his solar trance, he sat for a long while as I examined him, photographed him, and stroked his back. I thought I could lift him briefly, so as to photograph his blue belly.
     I was wrong. He squirmed through my fingers and ran up my arm onto my back where I couldn't see or touch him. With some creative reaching I managed to guide him down my other arm for one last photo and comfortable release to the grass, where he promptly resumed his sunny repose.
     After all, home again, happy and hungry.

1 comment:

del said...

"solar trance"

Nice!