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It’s a beautiful time of year
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| Published by Tampa Bay Newspapers |
| Sept. 13, 2006 |
It's gorgeous out, a little bit cooler in the mornings and evenings.
Everything is in full bloom. The landscape is green, rivers flowing and ponds
bursting with lilies, faces turned upward to turquoise skies and billowing
clouds.
My garden is luscious. So what’s the problem? Well, I can’t go out for
more than a few minutes without plastering myself with layers of insect repellent.
Nope it’s not the mosquitoes. I’ve developed a sensitivity to no-see-ums.
Now tell me, how can something I can’t even see cause me multiple, huge red,
burning stinging welts within minutes of stepping out into the fresh air?
I’ve camped with grizzlies and cougars in my camp, stepped over rattlesnakes
(to my surprise), been stung by an assassin bug, treated for poisonous spider
bites, and slid down a hoodoo, (What’s a hoodoo? That’s a story for
another day). I’ve been backed down a mountain by an overprotective mother
bobcat and let’s not even talk about how many times I’ve “gotten
back up” onto a horse, so what’s with these nasty little creatures that
are basically invisible? I’ve got shelves of promised remedies.
Nothing consistently works. Where’s a good scientist when I need one? Someone
please invent something that halts these varmints in their tracks without also
killing me, as well.
This is the way I began my morning, moaning and groaning, itching and scratching,
but look, the trees are full of birds. Rick grabs his camera. (They don’t bite
him.) The trees are alive with babies. We believed we had a mated pair of
red-bellied woodpeckers, but could not locate any nesting cavity. Here was
proof.
We could see Mom and Pop yelping and fussing over at least three little babies.
They were almost fully feathered and being taught how to search for food. I quickly
forget the pain. They were adorable, pecking indiscriminately up and down the
trunks of the trees, and then looking back at their parents for reassurance. Like
children in a newly discovered playground, they joyfully fluttered about testing
their boundaries.
Red-bellied woodpeckers are beneficial residents. They seek out insects within the
bark of trees consuming large numbers of wood-boring beetles, as well as
grasshoppers and ants. Red-bellied woodpeckers also catch insects while in flight.
Their diet includes: insects, nuts, acorns and fruit.
Ouch – as I rub on salve – but it was worth it, babies. As always –
back to nature.
Let us take a moment out of our day in remembrance of a passionate crusader for
nature, Steve Irwin. I personally feel I lost one of my heroes this week. He lived
the life he dreamed. Irwin’s father said his son died doing what he loved. (www.crocodilehunter.com)
Karen can be reached at back_2nature@hotmail.com.
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