The Way of the White Clouds

Born and raised in the flat state of Delaware, I dreamt of seeing snow capped mountains for a long time before I actually did. I then fell in love with the Sierras—and I bet if I had the chance to spend more time in the Rockies it’d be the same story. I’m not convinced I’d love 9 months of snow that usually comes along with the mountains that I love gazing up at—so I’m pretty content to visit, trek, and explore them as much as I can.

I’m not a peak bagger. Getting to the top of the highest peak is not usually my goal. I just like to look at them and feel like they are looking down at me. So when I saw pictures of the Himalayas—a new longing began to develop. I decided that someday I will see them in person.

Himalaya literally means "abode of snow". This mountain range is in Asia and is home to the world's highest peaks, the Eight-thousanders (8000 m or 26,247 ft), which include Mount Everest and K2. In search of possible trips to this area—particularly Nepal—I came across a book called, “The Snow Leopard” which I have just started reading. It is Peter Matthiessen’s account of a trip he took with a field biologist to study the Himalayan blue sheep—and their quest to see an elusive snow leopard. Its also about his spiritual journey—afterall, he is in the land of the Buddha.

I haven’t read very much of it yet, but right away I found a quote that I really liked and wanted to share. I find Buddhism and other eastern religions (or ways life, whatever is the correct term) very appealing and fascinating.

“Just as a white summer-cloud, in harmony with heaven and earth, freely floats in the blue sky from horizon to horizon, following the breath of the atmosphere—in the same way the pilgrim abandons himself to the breath of the greater life that wells up from the depth of his being and leads him beyond the farthest horizons to an aim which is already present within him, though yet hidden from his sight."

—Lama Govinda, The Way of the White Clouds

I will let you know how the book is -- and when my trip to Nepal is officially on the calendar.

Bombay Hook

Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge is located in Smyrna, Delaware.  Its a great place to see birds year round-- but especially great for migrating ducks, geese, shorebirds, and neotropical songbirds. Its 16,000 acres include freshwater pools, swamps, upland forests, agricultural fields, and one of the largest unaltered tidal salt marshes in the Mid-Atlantic region.

 

 

 

 

I visited with my parents today. Not as many birds as usual but still some waterfowl.  We saw Tundra Swans, Canada Geese, Northern Shovelers, Buffleheads, Northern Pintails, Mallards, Snow Geese, a Red-tailed Hawk fluffed up in a tree, several Northern Harriers hovering over the marshes, gulls, and LBJs (sparrows). I also spotted a couple of raccoons foraging along the shoreline.  And a fox crossed the road in front of our car, chased a couple Canada Geese, and went on its merry way.

 

Its been cloudy and snowy for days so the sunset was a bit of a nice surprise at the end of the trip. 

 

 

 

Serengeti National Park

Serengeti National Park is famous for its annual migration of over 1.5 million wildebeest and 250,000 zebra. I'm not sure I can find the words to describe what it was like to be there and see such a vast expanse of land--but it was an amazing experience. The word Serengeti, originally a Maasai word, has been changed in English and Swahili; "Serengit" in Maasai means "endless plains" while "Siringitu" in Swahili means “the place where the land moves on forever.”

Africa is believed to be the birthplace of humanity--which brings up the debate about evolution. Although many people like myself believe there should be no debate...it still exisits. But I like how this quote brings the most important lesson to the forefront:

"I do not want to discuss evolution in such depth, however, only touch on it from my own perspective: from the moment when I stood on the Serengeti plains holding the fossilized bones of ancient creatures in my hands to the moment when, staring into the eyes of a chimpanzee, I saw a thinking, reasoning personality looking back. You may not believe in evolution, and that is all right. How we humans came to be the way we are is far less important than how we should act now to get out of the mess we have made for ourselves."

Jane Goodall is best known for her 45-year study of social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania. She has worked extensively on conservation and animal welfare issues. The mess she speaks of is the state of the world we currently live in--overpopulation, habitat destruction, human consumption, deforestation, rapid extinction of species, loss of biodiversity, pollution, water availabilty/quality, climate change, etc. Depressing? Yes. But sadly its a very real concern that every human should be aware of.

Tanzania as a country has been a world leader in wildlife conservation--they have found ways to protect wildlife and allow for human use while creating jobs for the local people. The charismatic wildlife and amazing scenery attract more than 90,000 tourists to the Serengeti each year. However, not long ago in September there was a push to build a major highway through the middle of the park--something that would obviously disrupt the Great Migration that occurs here. I'm not sure where that issue stands today but I certainly hope it doesn't happen and that they are able to come up with an alternative.

Ngorongoro Crater

Welcome to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA).  Approximately 25,000 large animals, mostly ungulates and reputedly the highest density of mammalian predators in Africa, live here. These large animals include the endangered black rhinoceros and the hippopotamus, which is very uncommon in the area. There also are many ungulates including wildebeest, zebra, eland, and Grant's and Thompson's gazelles. The crater has the densest known population of lions. You can get great views of the wildlife here because they are habituated to tourists passing through.

The Ngorongoro Crater is a large, unbroken, unflooded volcanic caldera which formed when a giant volcano exploded and collapsed on itself 2-3 million years ago.  It is 610 m (2,000 ft) deep and its floor covers 100 sq mi.

The conservation area also protects Oldupai Gorge--one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world . At Laetoli, west of Ngorongoro Crater, hominid footprints are preserved in volcanic rock 3.6 millions years old and represent some of the earliest signs of mankind in the world. Research mainly by Louis and Mary Leakey has been instrumental in furthering understanding of early human evolution. Their work yielded four different kinds of hominid, showing a gradual increases in brain size and in the complexity of their stone tools. 

NCA is a unique protected area in Africa because conservation is integrated with human use. Today there are some 42,200 Maasai pastoralists living in the NCA with their livestock. During the rains they move out on to the open plains; in the dry season they move into the adjacent woodlands and mountain slopes. The Maasai are allowed to take their animals into the Crater for water and grazing, but not to live or cultivate there.

Our visit to the Crater was amazing--although it brought up many group discussions on whether or not what we were participating in was "natural" because the animals didn't care that we were there.  It gave many of us a zoo or drive-thru wildlife park feeling--yet the animals were in their natural habitat doing natural things (hunting, mating, etc.). 

More from Tanzania to come...


**Info from Wiki and http://www.ngorongorocrater.org/

Myths of Wild Africa

In January 2004 I went on a 3-week safari in Tanzania during winter session. I just recently found the journal that I kept while I was there. As part of my coursework we read a book called, “The Myth of Wild Africa: Conservation without Illusion”. The myth was that among Western conservationists “Africa and wildlife conservation do not belong together” despite the fact that “Africans have more than demonstrated their genuine interest in and understanding of the importance of conservation--aesthetically, practically, culturally.'' The authors note that, since independence, African governments have set aside over 48 million hectares of land for animals, they spend over $115 million a year managing this land and that--in contrast to the US, which has set aside only 8% of its land--Tanzania has given up 13% of its territory for game parks. The take home message for me was that instead of telling Africans what to conserve, or trying to do it for them, we need to teach them how to do it themselves—and they would be happy to do so.

Other myths were also refuted for me on this trip. Before I went to Tanzania I don’t think I had any specific idea of what the people would be like—but everyone I talked to prior to my trip would caution me against savages, head hunters, and cannibals. It’s interesting how people form opinions about things they know nothing or very little about. I spent time with both the Maasai and Hadza—native peoples who lived off the land—but they were not so different from you and I. We had a bonfire with the Hadza –-we shared stories, songs, and dances with them. It was a lot of fun. I also remember our group trying to explain what a bear looked like to them—they have many animals they we think are amazing and unique, but no bear-like animals. And they really wanted to see one. They also thought we were magical because we could take their pictures and show it to them on our digital cameras.

One of the “problems” westerners think Africa has is population growth--because they don’t have the same technologies available to them that we do. But one of the memories from this trip that has stayed with me was a when we got the chance to speak with a Maasai man, who told us that in general the men wanted to use contraception methods but the women did not. It was because in their society it was a woman’s almost sole purpose in life—to raise many children. And it was a status symbol to have many children. So if that was taken away from them, they would not feel important in their communities anymore. As Americans we can’t possibly understand their culture – especially if we are ignorant or close-minded about who they are. And we can’t expect them to just change.

I had an amazing time in Tanzania and would love to go back to see more of Africa. One of the first places we visited was Tarangire National Park, which is famous for its large numbers of elephants and baobab trees--the photos above are from our time there.

To be continued...

Trochilidae

I just wanted to share this amazing photo.

I came across this because of StumbleUpon but you can look at more of David's amazing bird photography here: http://www.davidhemmingsbirdphotography.com/

• There are more than 325 hummingbird species in the world. Only 8 species regularly breed in the United States.
• The average ruby-throated hummingbird weighs 3 grams. In comparison, a nickel weighs 4.5 grams.
• A hummingbird’s maximum forward flight speed is 30 miles per hour, though the birds can reach up to 60 miles per hour in a dive.
• An average hummingbird’s heart rate is more than 1,200 beats per minute.
• The rufous hummingbird has the longest migration of any hummingbird species: +3,000 miles from its nesting grounds in Alaska and Canada to its winter habitat in Mexico.
• Despite their small size, hummingbirds are one of the most aggressive bird species and will regularly attack jays, crows and hawks that infringe on their territory.

Sounds of Nature

A friend of mine just posted on Facebook that she had witnessed the sound of ice for the first time. Or more specifically, the dispersion of sound waves in ice sheets. If you go to this link you can hear what she heard: http://silentlistening.wordpress.com/2008/05/09/dispersion-of-sound-waves-in-ice-sheets/
It’s pretty amazing!

The author of the blog above has a description that says “Andreas Bick, composer and sound artist based in Berlin, Germany, writes about sound related things (forgive wrong spellings and twisted grammar). Silent listening is about the fringes of music, the periphery where music turns into sheer sound - concrete, wild, sometimes stunningly beautiful.”

“The fringes of music, the periphery where music turns into sheer sound - concrete, wild, sometimes stunningly beautiful” – love it!

As you probably know, being a birder requires very good hearing. In fact even the tiniest sounds can drive me nuts—or bring me peace. A few years ago I read a book by Donald Kroodsma that was all about bird song and communication. His work has showed that even chickadees can have local dialects, that flycatchers are born with their ability to produce sounds, and that mockingbirds mimic all the other birds in the area to build a large repertoire that will impress the ladies.

“Many people can identify a Wood Thrush when they hear it, it's one of the most beautiful songs in the world. Little do they realize they could hear the things that Wood Thrush is communicating if they just knew how to listen." – Donald Kroodsma

Most of us overlook the sounds of nature. Or they are often blocked out by sounds of industry and civilization. But we also tend to seek out nature sounds for peace of mind—you can even buy them on a CD to help you sleep at night.

Imagining my life without being able to hear birds sing, raindrops fall on a tin roof, wind blowing through aspen leaves, coyotes howling, the rumble of distant thunder, or the crashing of waves onto the beach (I could go on forever)—it just might be unbearable. I listen to man-made music often—and sometimes loudly so I can sing along like a crazy person. But nature, to me, is the true musician. You just have to listen more carefully to hear her songs.

What’s your favorite nature sound?

Santa Elena Canyon

After our backpacking excursion we wanted to see the rest of Big Bend NP.  So we took the 30 mile Ross Mawell Scenic Drive to Santa Elena Canyon.  The canyon is visible over 10 miles away. The trail initially crosses Terlingua Creek, a minor Rio Grande tributary, which is dry for much of the year but several feet deep during rainy periods. Then there is a somewhat steep ascent with switchbacks to pass over a cliff at the start of the canyon. Then the trail has a more gradual descent back to water level and a flat section of several hundred meters through tall vegeation to a small beach, beyond which the water covers the gorge from wall to wall.  The cliffs above rise vertically for over 1,000 feet.

Kristin spotted an adorable black phoebe in the middle of the river--flycatching from a stick.  There were several ravens active in the canyon--one flew up the middle of the canyon and you could hear its wing beats echoing off the walls. We also got some good looks at a canyon wren up close.

2010: Reflections

What a year. 2010 was a year of struggle in many ways—and I’m glad I made it through in once piece. Between trying to finish my thesis and trying to find a permanent job I found myself in a place of uncertainty again—no place to call home, needing a mental and emotional break, but desperately wanting to move on to the next thing. At times it seemed like everything had fallen apart, but it is now slowly coming back together.

And in the meantime, my restless self visited 36 states and spent time with so many awesome people. I had fun in San Diego with Tara and Melissa, spent the summer in the Sierras, went backpacking in Isle Royale and Big Bend, spent a lot of time with family, experienced a taste of autumn in New England, and spent a month hiking in Southeast Arizona.

"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun."
— Chris McCandless (Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer)

Chris McCandless may not be a very good role model, but I think he still makes a good point in this quote. A secure future can be nice—but it can also be boring. Life changes so quickly as it is, we really have no idea what’s going to come our way next. So it’s good to remember that even if our future isn’t exactly set in stone--we can always enjoy the new experiences along the way.

I think 2011 begins a new chapter for me—one that I’m very eager to read.

(Side note: I finished reading the book, “Into the Wild” on the floor of my empty apartment in College Station, TX in early Jan. 2008—almost exactly three years ago. The movers moved my stuff in the next day.)

Ringing in the New Year from Big Bend

Big Bend National Park is located in southwest Texas on the border of Mexico. Despite the harsh environment in the Chihuahuan Desert, Big Bend has an amazing plant and animal diversity. It has more than 1200 species of plants (including 60 different cacti species), more than 600 animal species (~450 bird species). The diversity is largely due to the diverse ecology and changes in elevation, ranging from the dry, hot desert to the cool mountains to the river valley.

Last year for New Year’s my friend Kristen and I went to Philadelphia for a traditional celebration—beer, bars, and fireworks at Penn’s Landing. We had a great time, but this year I wanted to do something different. So I asked my backpacking buddy Kristin (note the I, not E) if she wanted to hit up Big Bend for the New Year. She did!

Big Bend is a bit out of the way, making it a park that is generally less visited than others. But one of the rangers told us that New Years is fairly popular and that Spring Break is their most popular time of year. We arrived at the park in the late afternoon, got our backcountry permit, headed to the Chisos Basin, and hiked a quick 1.5 miles up the Pinnacles trail to our first campsite--it was a race against the sun. The weather wasn’t great—40mph wind gusts. And once the sun sets the temperatures drop like crazy! Plus, the elevation in the basin is 5,400ft—so the overnight lows were in the low 30s. (Photo left of me on right from the first morning--windy and cold! But warmed up quickly.)

We hiked up the rest of the Pinnacles trail and the Colima trail on New Years Eve—we had a campsite not far from the Southwest rim. (As a side note, many birders come up to the Colima trail in spring to see the Colima Warbler--it breeds only in the Chisos Mountains of western Texas and the Sierra Madre Oriental of northeastern Mexico.) We set up camp and then headed out to explore the South Rim without our packs.

The South Rim is located at the extreme southern edge of the Chisos Mountains. At the rim, the desert floor is 2,500 feet below you and the panoramic view of rugged desert and mountains reach far into Mexico.  This is a photo of Kristin comminicating with the sun gods--hoping to warm up!

After a quick dinner we watched the last sunset of 2010 and then crawled into our tents for warmth.

In the morning we headed down the Laguna meadows trail back to the Chisos lodge area and switched to car camping mode for the remainder of the trip.

To be continued...