What the Eyes Can't See

Anna’s vision was partially obscured by the black mosquito net that draped down from the brim of her hat.  It was late spring and the mosquitoes had made their buzzing presence known on her last visit to the forest.  Not wanting to miss her time in the forest community, she had found the perfect garment to make visiting possible.  Today, as she entered the woods and breathed out carbon dioxide, the tiny blood seeking females quickly found her.  Unknown to Anna, a couple of hundred mosquitoes flew in her wake like gulls flying behind a fishing vessel.  As the sunlight broke through the infrequent gaps in the leaves, their fragile winged bodies were lit up against the dark green background of the trees and shrubs.

The forest had exploded into a riot of greens that all seemed to blend into one another as she viewed them through the dark netting.  In the early spring she had stopped at each plant to examine it closely.  Now, the netting made it hard to see and the mosquitoes swarmed if she stopped and raised the screen.  But no matter.  The sun was shining and the sunlight became bright green as it passed through the young leaves.  Anna liked walking in this green light.  She didn’t know the science behind it, but it felt so nurturing to be bathed in the glow of chlorophyll. It felt good in her heart, like all the world was new and hopeful, caring and possible.

Birdsong easily passed through the net. Anna had no idea what the various songsters looked like, but she had come to recognize their songs from her daily visits.  Each song was so varied in pitch, rhythm and tune.  She mimicked the songs with her own voice, trying to learn them.  She tried putting words to the melody in order to lock them in her memory but the rich diversity made memorization difficult for her aging brain.  She gave up trying and just soaked in the magical serenade.  Sometimes the left brain just needed to take a back seat.

It had rained the night before and she breathed in deeply.  Scents as varied and rich as the birdsong passed over the threshold of her nose, into her nervous system.  She savoured each in-breath and imagined that this is how the world must be for dogs.  She imagined that each scent told a story.  Unlike the birdsong, it was hard to put words to these olfactory sensations.  Instead, they became colours.  The deep dark brown smell of wet humus and the green smell of vegetation danced in her nose.  Hints of floral smells, white and pink blinked in and out of her awareness.  Every now and then came her favourite, the resin of balsam poplar buds, pungent and medicinal smelling and always a flash of yellow-gold that brought a smile to her face.  She didn’t care that her vision was obscured as she saw the colours of the smells in her mind.  Such diversity and abundance of sensations was worth the sweat that was now running down her neck.

Suddenly, she heard a sound that she recognized -- the calls of Wild Turkeys somewhere in the bush.  Now that call told a story she knew.  When the trees were all cut down by the early settlers in the late 1800’s, the Wild Turkeys that lived in her area were hunted for food.  As their habitat, the forest, was destroyed, the turkeys could no longer survive and they disappeared from this land entirely by 1902.  They were gone for eighty-two years before people brought them back to the new forests that had been planted in the 1920’s and 30’s to repair the deforestation and desertification created by the early European settlers’ logging entreprises.  In 1984, provincial government workers had to trade for the Wild Turkeys that came from the US.  To ensure a good gene pool, they traded in various areas.  The province had traded 18 river otters, 120 Hungarian partridges, some Canada Geese and 50 moose for 274 Wild Turkeys thus collaborating with other animal restoration projects.  And then, by relocating small groups of turkeys, their territory and population was expanded.  The new forests were the keys to establishing the turkeys in her area.  Since the habitat for nesting and raising young had been re-established, these versatile birds did very well foraging for grain and hayseeds from farmers’ fields as well as forest food and now there were around 100,000 Wild Turkeys in the province.

Waking from her reverie, Anna realized that she had wandered onto a path that she had not taken before.  She looked around but didn’t recognize anything around her.  But something tiny and pink was swaying against the green backdrop of the trees.  Coming closer, she realized that there were quite a few of what turned out to be tiny tube-like pink flowers with bright yellow tips that hung from a long stem.  They looked like tiny shoes. The small leaves were bluish green and cut into rounded lobes.  She had never seen this plant before.  Another stem held up long pointed seed pods so she knew she was at the end of this flower’s cycle.  The flowers were enchanting and there were only a few of them.  The forest community had thousands of White Trilliums and yellow Trout Lilies, lots of Blue Cohosh’s tiny purple blooms, and some Foamflower, Starflower and False Solomon’s Seal which all had tiny white flowers.  The Red Maples had sent their red blossoms down to the ground already and the White Ash’s white flowers were finished.  Nowhere had she seen pink flowers in this forest so far.  She planned to consult her Wildflower guide once she returned to the house.  Sometimes, getting “lost” was a good thing.  These flowers were off of her usual route.  It was like the forest led her to them as her mind was otherwise occupied with thoughts of Wild Turkeys. 

Anna reasoned that if she went back in the direction that she had come from, she might see something she recognized.  Trying to stay alert and present to her surroundings, she scanned the forest floor on the side of the trail.  Much of it was covered by the low trailing evergreen vines of Partridge Berries.  Last year’s bright red berries were still clinging tightly to the plants which hadn’t flowered yet.  Anna knew that these berries and leaves were eaten by the Wild Turkeys, Ruffed Grouse and of course, Partridges.  She was happy that there were lots available for these birds. 

As if to punctuate her thought, she heard the low-pitched drumming of a male Grouse from somewhere nearby.  It sounded like an engine that was trying to start but fizzled out.  She knew he was taking part in this courting behaviour to attract female Grouse to his territory.  She could picture him beating his wings against a hollow log that he stood on and creating thumps which got faster and faster until only a brrrr sound could be heard.   She knew that these birds only live in deciduous forests and are thought to benefit from regenerating forests that have low shrubs.  The drumming brought the story of this regeneration and reproduction to her.

Anna had come to a place where the trail divided.  Neither path looked familiar.  Then the drumming of the Grouse erupted again.  Like a female Grouse, Anna decided to take the trail that led in the direction of the drummer.  Perhaps, the forest had something else to show her.  She kept her eyes on the sandy trail ahead of her for the most part and occasionally scanned the woods on either side.  Grouse were well camouflaged and hard to see.  Usually they were only visible if she scared one into flight.

The drumming came again, this time louder.  Smiling, Anna followed the trail, walking as quietly as she could.  She knew that Grouse were solitary birds and that the male had to work very hard to attract his mates.  He stayed in his own territory which he would defend while the females roamed around.  Any female Grouse would judge his worthiness as a mate by the food in his territory and by the display that he put on.  She could imagine him strutting around, tail feathers spread out and neck feathers expanded.  He knew his job and he did it well.  Find a good habitat, defend it, attract females, procreate and then eat as much as he could to fatten up for the winter. Anna wished it was so simple for humans who spent much of their lives trying to figure out who they were.  Ruffed Grouse knew who they were and they went about being Grouse.  Humans had made it very complicated.

Just then, Anna saw an unusual footprint in the sand of the trail ahead of her.  It looked like a small human footprint.  But instead of toes, it had five longer marks like claws.  The whole print was only about five inches long.  She lifted up the bug netting and squatted down to take a closer look.  There was only one animal that had a print like a human foot.  There must be a small black bear here in the forest.

Anna was always excited about what the forest had to show her but she did not want to meet a bear.  She had rehearsed in her mind many times what she would do if she did meet a bear.  She knew that looking big might help, that loud noises might help, that bear spray would definitely help and that running would definitely not help.  She always imagined that she would talk to the bear and tell it that she was not a threat.  She knew that she wasn’t on a black bear’s favourite food list.  She also remembered that making noise was the best way to alert a bear to your presence and then it would likely choose to avoid you. Just as the Grouse was using sound to attract a mate, she would use sound to repel a bear.

And so, Anna burst into song.  This would make sure that she didn’t see the Grouse.  That gift would have to wait for another day.  Anna sang to the trees a song she had learned from another woman.  “Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful trees.  Beautiful oak, beautiful maple, beautiful, beautiful trees.”  She replaced the names of the trees with all the trees that she walked past.  And then she replaced trees with flowers, then birds, then plants.  It felt like the forest community liked being sung to.  Everything seemed a little brighter to her eyes.  The birds sang back to her, the trees waved their branches and leaves, the flowers swayed in the breeze and even the mosquitoes who were added to the beautiful insect section seemed like tiny stars as they orbited her head.

Anna had been so intent on singing and appreciating the forest community that she had not been paying attention, once again, to where she was as she followed the path.  And so, she was surprised when the trail ended at another trail that ran perpendicular to the one she was on.  Now she had to decide which way to turn.  She needed the edge of the forest near her home to attract her, like a Grouse drumming.

She turned onto the trail leading to the right and closed her eyes.  She called up the image in her mind of the road where she had started.  She could feel the energy from that picture sink and disappear.  Next, she turned to the left and closed her eyes.  Once again, she pictured her desired destination.  This time the energy built in her heart area and started to pulse.  “Okay,” she said, “left it is.”  And, she began to walk in that direction, still humming the Beautiful song.  After a few minutes, the trail ended at another perpendicular trail.  Anna looked to the right and then to the left.  And there down the trail to the left was something she recognized.  A tall, thin Maple sapling had fallen over and created an arch over the trail.  She knew where she was.  “Thank you,” she said as she laid down an offering. 

The wind was picking up and the leaves of the trees began to make their own music.  The birds added their songs, the female mosquitoes made their high-pitched whining and Anna sang along.  Deep in the forest, near the river, near where the Wild Ginger grew, a young bear stood on his hind legs and sniffed the air.  He could hear a sound but the wind came from his back and he couldn’t smell anything unusual or see any threats.  Satisfied, he snuffled and dropped onto all fours.  He picked up a familiar smell and ambled away in search of Wild Strawberries.