At three a.m.the mind wanders many paths. Sometimes they re-join and a message emerges.
During an early morning thunderstorm awakening, I recalled an experience at the open pit mine in Arkansas digging through the muddy rubble for crystals. Small points eluded me until an experienced crystal hunter helped train my eye. A few way too large chunks unrealistically tempted me. At one point, filthy, covered head to boot heel with thick red Razorback mud, I paused and looked around.
Razorback Red soil heaped up for crystal seekers to dig through.
Four things happened in quick succession. Surveying the devastation of mining, I started to cry. As I reached down in the ruined earth to apologize to the elegant, imposing crystal in front of me, a thought as clear as a refined crystal came to me, “Mining is a vicious activity.” As if to confirm my thought, deep red blood splattered on the rock. It took a few moments for me to realize the blood was mine! I had sliced open my little finger along the length of the last phalange on a razor sharp edge of the rock.
I just stoode there watching the blood drip on the crystal and sinking into the brick colored soil. I let the bleeding go, partly from shock, partly to wash out dirt, partly as a tribute for the violence done to the earth.
When I returned to the car we cleaned off and bound the wound, which kept bleeding for hours and opened up and bled many days after. On the way home, I reflected on the raw crystals and the lovely pure white and clear refined crystals we “ohhh” and “ahhh” over and buy in stores.
Our lives are like these crystals. Sometimes we are torn from all we think we know and love. The forms of violence are endless. The list goes on and on. In the raw we are rough, stained and fairly unattractive. Refined, we can glimmer, gleam and shine – sometimes in genuine completeness. Other times if too refined, we can become phony looking because our true selves are hidden by another factor – false perfection.
As I reflected, my little finger began to ache – again. A reminder of a time when I sympathized with Mother Earth and received a scolding from her. A lesson to share.
Most woodpeckers are homebodies. Downy, hairy, red –bellied and most other woodpeckers are nonmigratory. Search a woodsy area and chances are they can be spotted or heard year round. Many will come to the backyard for a suet feast. Most woodpeckers are easy to observe and identify. They are noisy and move frequently making them easy to spot. They often call and drum as they move from tree to tree. The yellow-bellied sapsucker is an unusual woodpecker. It’s migratory in part of the country, secretive and challenging to find. Patient observation helps locate one hugging an April tree in the upper Midwest.
This colorful bird is about the size of the familiar hairy woodpecker. Despite its name the yellow belly is hard to see. More visible is a red crown and white stripe down the wings. The bird nests and summers from the Yukon across the continent to New England. Some spend the entire year in southeastern states down to southern Mexico, but many migrate north to nest. Winding Pathways is in Iowa where sapsuckers only pass through. They are most common in April.
Obvious evidence of sapsuckers with horizontal holes dripping sap.
Although more secretive than other woodpeckers sapsuckers are fairly common suburban and woodland birds. They leave unmistakable evidence of their presence.
Sapsuckers ingest sap and eat the insects that are attracted to this sticky substance. Birds drill holes in thin bark, especially of maples, birches and pines. Sap oozes out of the wound, and the birds return for nutritious dining. Usually the holes, called wells, are perfectly round with several forming a horizontal line. Sapsucker wells rarely harm a tree, although scars can remain on the bark for several years.
An outstanding information source for yellow-bellied sapsuckers and hundreds of other bird species is a website sponsored by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. Go to allaboutbirds.org and enter in the species of interest. Photos, videos, maps, sound recordings and interesting tidbits of information will appear. The lab also offers a free smart phone bird identification app. Click on the website tab for information.
Winding Pathways has had fun this spring working with neighbor children on syruping. While the season here in Iowa has ended, in more northern and Eastern areas it is still in full swing. The 2015 syruping season may last longer in the north east because of the deep snow and continued cold. Take in the excitement of a syrup festival in your region and take time to tap a tree in your backyard. Things will pop fast, so go outside and play!
