Seeing the Signs in the Forest
A coral fungus found on the forest floor. If you look closely you will see an even smaller mushroom just to the right of it.
Chances are if you’re reading this, like me, you like to be out in nature. But while you are out hiking in the woods are you actually looking for the signs in the forest. More often than not when I am out hiking and come across other hikers, I am amazed at how little people see. Even when I am out hiking with people who work out in the woods, they don’t really take the time to look around most of the time. If you do not slow down and look as you are hiking, you are bound the miss so much fascinating information about the world around you.
For many, the activity of hiking or walking outside is a means of escaping the confines of their daily routine from the office or school that they work. They may even plug in headphones and go for a walk in the woods. To me this is crazy. Rather than plugging in headphones, listen to the sounds of the forest. Listen to the water bubbling in the brook, the wind in the canopy above, and the birds will sing a song for you. In fact the practice of going out in nature can be very beneficial. The practice was first conceptualized in Japan and is known as shinrin-yoku or “forest bathing”. The practice focuses on the benefits of going out in nature and immersing yourself. This practice has been shown to have actual health benefits from improving your mental health as well as decreasing stress levels. Just give it a quick google search!
Plugging in your headphones while out in the forest is not going to have the same effect… just saying.
To take the benefits of being out in nature one step further, I challenge you to actually see while you are out in the forest or where ever you may be to be out in nature. I do not simply mean to look up and glance at the trees or to every once in a while look up from the path you’re walking on. To truly see, you need to slow down and look at the dirt and the bark. Watch how the wind moves the leaves, and actually watch a bird foraging in the leaves for bugs. As you slow down and actually look, you can then begin to ask the ultimate question “why”? Why is the dirt disturbed like that, was it an animal that moved it or was it someone who was walking the trail ahead of you? Why is that bird foraging in the canopy rather than on the forest floor? Why is the bark on that tree thicker than this other tree?
Fresh black bear claw marks on the side of a maple tree.
Passing by trees on the trail, take note of any marks on the trees. You might end up seeing the claw marks or other markings of animals as they passed by earlier.
The possible questions are endless. The more your slow down and look at more detail, the more questions you are likely to develop. Don’t become overwhelmed with the unknown that you are uncovering, instead embrace it and become interested in it. The world we live in today, much of what we do not know ourselves can be found in a simple internet search. All these questions you formulate about the world we live in, write them down when you are out walking. This allows you to look up the answers when you get home. Fight the urge to look up the answers to your questions while you are out in nature. Looking up the answers immediately will make the task become tedious and you will loose your focus on discovering new things out about the world around you.
Pretty soon, you will have a deeper understanding and appreciation for what is happening around you while you are out on your hikes or walks. With some practice you will even begin to see signs of tracks or scat of wildlife while you are out. These signs can provide valuable insight into the lives of these animals. Locating and interpreting tracks of animals can reveal which direction they travels and how fast. You can even determine the sex and approximate age of some animals based on their tracks. As you learn more about the forest around you and the animals that call it home, you will feel a deeper connection with the forest and will have an even greater sense of interest in how the natural world works. I speak from experience when I tell you these things.
If you take the time to look around you and learn about the natural world, you will be helping to protect the remaining natural places around us. As each of us learns more about how an ecosystem works, we will be learning the importance of protecting that ecosystem for the benefit of all the living things within it, including ourselves.
So next time you are out taking a walk or hiking at your local park, take some time to slow down and actually look at the living things around you. I promise you will be amazed at what you can find and learn.
A nest of a song bird from the previous summer.
When you are walking by shrubby areas in the fall and winter when the leaves have all fallen, look into the bushes. Sometimes you will find birds nest that is still holding on from a previous nesting attempt.
Many different animals make and use burrows in the ground to nest in. This is one such burrow that was created and now looks abandoned. You can see that this burrow was constructed under a fallen tree. This was found only a few feet off of a trail.
Many of the animals in the forest are carnivores, meaning they eat other animals. Unfortunately for song birds, they are often the target of these carnivores. This is a spot where one song bird was consumed by another animal. In this case, the predator was a coopers hawk that I had located flying off a few minutes prior to finding this log.
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