Nature stories...

BEAT · 02-02-2004 2:03am #1

Tell us one of your favorite nature stories.

One of mine...
I was camping a couple of years ago and awake before everyone else I went outside and sat listening to a woodpecker, I let me eyes search and search through the trees trying to find him, I knew he must be close because the pecking was loud. Finally after sitting for awhile I stood up and turned around and there he was pecking on our cabin roof. I found it amusing but the time I sat there alone in the woods listening was a peacful moment that you dont find very often. I like to sit and find myself there in my memories when I need to get away.

I often go to the Lake and sit on the rocks watching the waves rush in as a way to escape from the craziness, be surrounded by nature is a wonderful way to relax and bring yourself back down to earth.

Exit · 02-02-2004 5:45pm

One day my girlfriend and I were walking along a trail in Kananaskis, Alberta. It was a really peaceful place and we only passed one or two people all day. Anyway, I noticed a little chipmunk/squirrel (?) running around a little, so we stopped and just stood there looking at it. And surprisingly, it came over to us rather than running away. We stood there looking at him for a few minutes. He had an acorn (or something similar in his paws) and every so often he'd stop running around us and nibble on the acorn. It was just really cute looking.

It's probably sad though that he felt so comfortable around us because it probably means he's seen plenty of humans and is no longer scared of them, and unfortunately that might do him harm some time.

Forests like that are my favourite type of natural environment, they can be so peaceful if you just sit there quietly. I remember another time in Calgary, I was walking through a forested city (but incredibly peaceful and empty) park, and I stopped and sat down on a fallen tree trunk, and all of a sudden I hear this noise. Then again. And again. And I notice that there are things dropping from the trees and hitting the ground nearby. Then I saw a squirrel run down the side of a tree and pick up what was dropping. And as I sat there, I noticed a whole gang of squirrels all over the place, all dropping nuts from the trees and running down to collect them. It was really cool.

Anyway, here's 2 photos of the first squirrel/chipmunk. Not sure which it is

BEAT · 03-02-2004 12:27am

Awe, he is a cute little guy...you are right though it is dangerous for him to be so trusting, the wrong person may come along some day and do him harm.
People dont understand these things and the fact that feeding them makes them that way and it may seem ok to them to feed them but the next guy may be feeding them poison , but you get my drift.
It is nice to have a connection with nature and wildlife but we must also learn how to preserve it.

BEAT · 11-03-2004 11:16pm

I am going to stick this because I want more people to tell thier nature stories.

Today I experienced a beautiful thing without even leaving the house, the sound of birds chirping. It has been a long winter and though it isnt quite over yet the songs of Nature waking from its slumber are upon us.

What a beautiful sound to hear after silence and cold for what seemed like an eternity. Nature is shifting and soon everything will be green again and flowers will bloom...I cant wait to be able to sit outside all day or all night and be surrounded by it once again.

BEAT · 25-08-2004 6:27pm

I wish more people would share, a nature story can be anything that happened while you were outside

For example, a funny bit:

I was at the park with my little cousin and a flock of seaguls flew over us, I turned to her and said I bet one of them craps on me...
10 seconds later, A big wad of bird poo smacked me in the arm.

Luckily it hit my skin and not my clothes, I grabbed a leaf off a tree and wiped it off and went on my way laughing all the way home.

BEAT · 23-09-2004 3:18pm

well, I am going camping for the first time as the adult.
I will be taking along my little sister and younger cousin 11 and 12.
I bought a monster size tent and last weekend we did a trial run in the back yard to see how it would go.

I got the tent up and down surprisingly easy...ran into 3 problems.
Having the flashlight on in the tent attracted bugs and we had no bug spray.
so put that on my list.

Woke up at 6am stiff as a board...am not a kid anymore so sleeping on the ground didnt agree with me,
put an air mattress on the list.

And lastly, woke up at 6am frozen like an ice pop...so taking a portable heater along.

Everything else was cool though...I will be back on sunday and post about our camping trip then

skittishkitten · 23-09-2004 5:36pm

A few years ago I was cleaning the leaves out of my cactus bed when I heard rustling in the grass behind me. I thought it was one of the dogs coming to "help" so I turned to shoo them away since I didn't feel like picking cactus thorns out of their nose and feet. However instead of a dog there was this HUGE bullsnake approaching me rather quickly. Apparently he thought my digging through the leaves sounded more like his next meal. I screeched and jumped to the side which caused him to yank back also. He quickly decided I was a bit more than he wanted and went the other way. He lived around my house for over 2 years ....I nicknamed him "Fred" . I figured if he worked at keeping the mice down then he was more than welcomed to stay !

BEAT · 27-09-2004 3:14pm

thanks for sharing SK

Well, I took the girls out camping for real this time over the weekend, all in all everything went well. It is the first time I have gone campong on my own as the only adult, I took along my sister (11) and cousin (12).

We got the tent up okay but I didnt bring an extension cord so we were unable to use the space heater, it turned out we didnt need it anyway. We were lucky there.
I brought an air mattress so I wasnt as sore as I was from sleeping on the ground the previous weekend.

Everything went fine, The hardest part was building a fire. I didnt bring lighter fluid...instead I thought I'd be smart and bought some starter logs whcih were the size of 2 pencils together. I used all twelve of them to get the fire started, I thought it wasnt going to work at first but finally one of the logs caught on and it burned a lovley fire for us to roast marshmellows and hotdogs by.

The moon was nearly full as we sat by the fire and watched it. We even got a bit silly and danced around the fire for a bit...it was fun.

We lucked out in that teh campground was having a haunted hayride that night, so the girls were excited. I was also selected to be a judge that night for the campers who decorated thier camper for halloween. I was one of three judges and we got to select 1st,2nd,and 3rd place prizes. So I enjoyed that part of it.

It was so nice to just be outside, I would have rather slept outside than in the tent but with the amount of bloodsuckers flying around I decided not too.

Camping is meant to be relaxing, and while it is at night after you have set up camp and everything it doesnt explain why I was so tired and sore after a relaxing camping trip, hahaha probably because I had to ....load up the car, unload the car, set up tent...load up tent. assemble bed. fetch fire wood, build fire. cook, clean relax before going to bed.
then, take down tent load up car, unload car, wash everything including car...relax from relaxing camping trip. hahaha

It was fun nonetheless. I will definitley make it part of my spring,summer and fall plans every year

Even having fun requires a bit of work but in the end it was worth it.

Black & Gold · 05-11-2004 1:05pm

As I live in the country, strange nature stories happen regularly. Last week, I was driving home on my street at about 10p.m. and a fox just crossed the road right in front of the car. I remember once, when I was about 12, when a yellow butterfly just landed on my head... That was weird.

dubadub · 03-12-2004 6:14pm

For bird watching, www.birdweb.net
South Dublin Branch
Also,
www.birdwatchireland.ie

magnumlady · 01-09-2005 11:47am

A bat flew into our house on Tuesday night, it was amazing! It took me nearly an hour to get it back outside though!

madonnar · 19-09-2005 10:44pm

My daughter was staying in a log cabin somewhere in India, she was having a siesta when she saw a little lizard darting up the wall being chased by a snake, wisely she just watched motionless but the boyfriend panicked and threw a towel at the snake which made the snake topple off the wall and land on the bed! Both of them screamed and ran out the door to the amusement of all the other guests who were lounging around the pool.
Daughter and boyfriend were naked

boneless · 25-09-2005 5:02pm

I just saw a sparrowhawk take a starling out of the hedge in my back garden. She (yes... she) crashed into the hedge and dislodged about five or six starlings and took one on the wing! Fantastic sight!

Rossonero · 18-11-2005 1:49pm

My brother has a new house and hated when house martins built nests on it. One day he went out with a long pole and destroyed the nest to my disgust. One house martin was around and swooped down in attack. My brother had to retreat inside.
He showed his face 10 mins later. There was no bird in sight. Then 10-15 house martins appearred and proceeded to be quite aggressive!
He always leaves the nests alone now.

When I went sailing to France on a yacht, I was surprised to see the amount of nature 50 miles off the coast; a lone lost pigeon arrived trying to land on our boat before flying off, it's wings beating frantically. Lots of butterflies, wasps and dragonflies also landed. I never knew that they migrate.
We saw dolphins, porpoises, flying fish also.

Dave! · 23-12-2005 11:22pm

Some nice stories here

I haven't got much of a story, but one time while I was in college walking around, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye, turned around and there was a robin red breast sitting on the wall! It was gorgeous, and it was one of those really sweet natural moments where you kinda get a bit of appreciation for the planet

I turned a bit and tried to take out my camera phone and take a picture, but looked back and it was gone

I actually saw another robin in the same place a month or so later, tried to get the camera out again but it was gone

Still, it was a beautiful sight and I like to walk past that area every so often in the hope that I'll see one again. Lovely creatures.

boneless · 01-01-2006 4:20pm

DaveMcG wrote:

Some nice stories here

I haven't got much of a story, but one time while I was in college walking around, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye, turned around and there was a robin red breast sitting on the wall! It was gorgeous, and it was one of those really sweet natural moments where you kinda get a bit of appreciation for the planet I turned a bit and tried to take out my camera phone and take a picture, but looked back and it was gone

I actually saw another robin in the same place a month or so later, tried to get the camera out again but it was gone

Still, it was a beautiful sight and I like to walk past that area every so often in the hope that I'll see one again. Lovely creatures.

Your UCD I think? Take a walk down by the ponds behind the Vets block... I do it quite a lot. There is an amazing amount of wildlife on our doorstep!!

I've seen at least 36 speices of birds, fox, squirrel (grey!!) and a possible hedgehog... it was too dark to confirm, but the sounds were right.

I've been trying to get a group together in UCD for a while now, if you are interested PM me.

Demetrius · 13-01-2006 7:55pm

boneless wrote:

I just saw a sparrowhawk take a starling out of the hedge in my back garden. She (yes... she) crashed into the hedge and dislodged about five or six starlings and took one on the wing! Fantastic sight!

I saw something like that two years ago. I looking out the window at some swallows that had just left their nest and were perched on the clothes line. The parents were feeding them on the wing. I thought this was cool until the next thing blew me away.
The land at the back of our house slopes down and is covered in nettles and briars. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something approach from that direction keeping low. It was some sort of bird of prey. It plucked one of the fledglings off the line and continued on without stopping, with the rest of the fledglings darting off and the parent swallows swooping at the bird of prey. It was one of the coolest things Ive ever seen.

Funsterdelux · 24-01-2006 2:16pm

I have a few nature stories, being from the country.

I saw a woodpecker once in Montreal, when I was wandering around the park of Mont Real (Mount Royal) thus its name Montreal

nollaig · 29-03-2006 12:06pm

Not really my nature story but my mother told it to me.

When she was a kid, a robin hurt himself outside their house. But they nursed him back to health. He would fly alongside my mother (& sometimes her brother). He let her pet him just once ever. They had the stations and apparently the robin sat on the window sill outside and sang for the duration of the mass.

nollaig · 29-03-2006 3:57pm

As I live in the country, strange nature stories happen regularly. Last week, I was driving home on my street at about 10p.m. and a fox just crossed the road right in front of the car

Has this not happened everybody at some stage?

nollaig · 30-03-2006 3:20pm

Has this not happened everybody at some stage?

Or do I take living in the country for granted?:D

snorlax · 01-04-2006 4:05pm

i'v got a pair of robins nesting in my garden at the moment, i think they are the ones we've been feeding (they seem to love oatmeal, and we use the meshed wire for peanuts to prevent the young birds chocking on them when they hatch).
it's really nice because every morning they always sing in the garden. although i think the blackbird is pretty cool to for it's vocals at dusk.:)

Red Hand · 12-04-2006 5:18pm

nollaig wrote:

Has this not happened everybody at some stage?

It has. However i remember seeing four foxes in the one day during the summer.

Banphrionsa · 13-04-2006 8:16am

Jeremiah 16:1 wrote:

It has. However i remember seeing four foxes in the one day during the summer.

Case of bread crumbs. Four foxes? Ahhhhh, it must be the wine, they are multiplying before my eyes.

theanty · 29-04-2006 8:31pm

Went out for a lovely country walk with my two dogs recently and I was about to pass a field that had no fence around it. Standing there looking back at me was a lovely white cow, my dogs got all excited and I thought I'd better turn around and go a different way, not wanting to startle it. To my utter amazement it followed us and started to catch up! I started to walk a bit faster, it walk faster, freaked me out a little! Anyway I was afraid it would follow me to a main road so a few shoo's and loads of gentle but firm encouagement later it headed back to the field. It's 'escaped' a few times since and even had a couple of pals in his posse patroling the neighbourhood....dunno if it's my imagination but place does feel a safer, no disrespect to local law enforcement!

Fingalian · 02-08-2006 5:08pm

I was in a field recently at dusk and a Barn Owl flew from around the corner which was about 60 yards away.I was standing still about 5 feet out from the hedge and facing him so I saw him the second he came around the corner. He flew towards me with slow beats of his wings, parallel to the hedge but a further 10 feet or so out and about 6 feet off the ground. He was looking ahead at the ground and I had frozen but as he flew by he turned and looked directly at me, but he kept on the same track, popped up a couple of feet to get over the hedge and into the next field and was gone.
Deadly!:D

artieanna · 13-08-2006 2:08am

hi from west of ireland.... heres a few shorts ones... my brother is on the road alot esp narrow country roads (his job) and sees amazing things one day he came upon a wild duck walking on the road with six ducklings he had stop and get out to clear them off the road. I went there when he told me, but there was no sign of them (which was good, no car hit them).
About two weeks ago as he was driving along, a swallow swooped down and plucked a butterfly out of the air, he said it was unreal the speed and agility of the swallow, poor butterfly tho!!!
and finally my story in july I saw a humming bird hawk moth, it flew from flower to flower not landing and extracting the pollen or nectar from the flowers, it was amazing i followed him around the garden till the midges got the better of me!www.uksafari.com/hummingbird.htm i never saw one of these before..

artieanna

nacho libre · 23-11-2006 5:23pm

Not really exciting but recently i saw a cat involved in a stand off with a stoat in my backyard. This went on for a few minutes till the stoat ran off then the cat chased after him, only for the stoat to stop and make a noise whereby the cat then retreated.

magicbastarder · 26-03-2007 4:13pm

Exit wrote:

One day my girlfriend and I were walking along a trail in Kananaskis, Alberta. It was a really peaceful place and we only passed one or two people all day. Anyway, I noticed a little chipmunk/squirrel (?) running around a little, so we stopped and just stood there looking at it. And surprisingly, it came over to us rather than running away. We stood there looking at him for a few minutes. He had an acorn (or something similar in his paws) and every so often he'd stop running around us and nibble on the acorn. It was just really cute looking.

Anyway, here's 2 photos of the first squirrel/chipmunk. Not sure which it is

if my memory serves, they're called least chipmunks - here's one i got a photo of at lake louise:

magicbastarder · 26-03-2007 4:13pm

double post

scop · 15-04-2007 6:03pm

Like the lads in UCD I'm well acquainted with the little robin redbreast who hangs about. He's quite cheeky and will chance his arm at getting quite close. He lives right beside the Arts block, and when there's nobody around he tends to come into the smoking area which can brighten up a morning quite well! As a Dublin lad I don't get much nature though I do enjoy it so this is always a nice thing to have.

Nature stories...

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