Really Seeing Nature
A sudden gust of wind rocks the camper just as I sit down on the sofa to relax after my morning hike along the trails of Kerrville Schreiner Park. It doesn’t surprise me. I had been racing to beat the impending storm for the last half hour. Weatherbug had warned me of late morning showers the night before, and I had set an earlier alarm to try and get my hike in before they came.
Now, I was anxious to review the photos of living things I had taken while hiking. That involved removing the SD card from the camera, popping it in to the card reader on my laptop, and scrolling through hundreds of images to find the ones that were worth keeping. Most of them would disappoint me and be instantly deleted. That was the nature of the game. The good ones, mostly of birds, would be posted to my blog, so that I could see them over and over again, and to share them with others .
I have always taken pictures of my camping adventures. For the first few years, most of them were images of trail heads or scenic vistas that caught my eye. When I look at them now, I am shocked by how much those early photos seem to completely ignore nature. They are like photos of libraries without any books.
I graduated from the Alamo Area Master Naturalist training program on November 11, 2017. That day just happened to be my 59th birthday. Earlier that year, I had retired from a 36-year career in public education. My very first goal after retirement had been to become a Master Naturalist after meeting some of them while touring Honey Creek. Little did I know how doing so would completely changethe way I look at our world.
You see, it wasn’t until I learned more about the nature I was seeing around me that I started really seeing it. I guess the best example I can give is birds. Before Master Naturalist training, I could give you a text book definition of birds. I could point them out when I saw them. But I never actually saw or understood the amazing differences between the different species until Patsy and Tom Ingletopened my eyes during training. Now, I don’t just see a bird. I see a specific bird. Even if I don’t know what kind of bird it is, I am drawn to learn more about it. I study the details I can see and hear, then, as soon as possible, do some research to learn all about it. You have no doubt heard the term "football widow." My wife probably feels like a "birding widow," as I can sit in the backyard for hours doing nothing but watching the birds in the trees and taking hundreds of pictures of them.
This new way of really seeing nature involves more than just birds. Now, I don’t just see a plant, I see a specific plant. Not only do I see a specific plant, I look at it and try to determine whether it’s a native or an invasive. That whole idea was totally new to me.
I find myself doing the same thing for insects. I don’t think I ever really looked at a honeybee before learning more about them from the Master Naturalists. I avoided them because I knew they could sting me. Now, they absolutely fascinate me. I even spent hours with my camera learning how to catch pictures of them in flight.
The old adage, "Stop and smell the roses" comes to mind. I never understood what it was saying. Now that I do, I wish I could have a do over. I wish I had the opportunity to share my new way of seeing the world with children. I know I can still do it with my own grandchildren, if I get some. But what a gift that would’ve been to have shared with the thousands of children whose lives I touched during my career.
Ahh, here it is—the gentle tapping on the trailer roof. The rain has finally come to wash the trails. It will clean the dusty leaves and subtly change the colors in the woods the trails pass through. I know that when the rain stops, Iwill grab my camera and head out on another adventure to really see the nature of the park.