May 15, 2007

So nice and warm today. A front coming through sometime tonight. It is windy and the cumulus clouds are building. I had to do some shopping in Orange Village, and came home along the Chagrin River Valley. I stuck to the high roads so I could catch the occasional long vistas. We really do live in a forest here. The long views are always of trees and it is only the buildings that are higher than their tops that show in the distance.

Walking though the woods, I hear Wood Thrush and Pewee. The birds skittish and moving fast. There is little sound or movement on the summit. It is hazy and visibility is only about 7 miles. I can pick out the outlines of the buildings downtown, 18 miles away, but they are very faint.

Coming down I hear there is more activity on my side of the mountain. Grosbeaks, Goldfinches, and Hairy Woodpecker.

I have no path through the woods. Now that the leaves are out there are no visible references in the distance. It is not very far to my yard. Just a few hundred yards. I use distance and direction rather than landmarks. I do this in other areas as well. Other woods without distinct paths. The lay of the land and the change in vegetation also provide a means of picking my way though the woods. In some cases I use a compass. When features are not obvious or the land is so irregular it is easy to lose track of direction under the canopy on a cloudy or rainy day. In 1999 on Little Mountain doing breeding bird survey work with Carol Skinner, I found myself using bird territories as an aid on the 1.5 mile off path walk. I had learned who lived where and would use the singing as both a measure of distance and as a landmark of sorts. It is almost impossible to get lost in this part of the world. There are too many clues. Running water, the sound of highways. Such is life in a major metropolitan area..