088 Bringing Nature Closer When You Can’t Go Far

In this episode, I discuss the many ways you can leverage the unplanned free time that may have been thrust upon you due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Suddenly the hustle and bustle of our everyday lives has been interrupted and replaced with…isolation. Let’s take this time to learn and study to ensure we emerge from our dens with a fresh perspective…and with that said, let’s get to it.

This is a special episode. I wanted to help those of you that are stuck indoors at one of the most wonderful times of the year to be playing outside. The birds are returning from their southern migrations with the first robins leading the way. The snow is melting and before you know it, the first crocuses will be thrusting their fuzzy-purple heads through the snow. Bears like Banff’s true harbinger of spring, The Boss, are now up and actively foraging.

South-facing slopes are quickly shedding their winter snowpack, and the valley bottom is melting and adding moisture to the thirsty soil of the Montane forests and meadowlands.

At this time, I want to add my condolences to any families that have been touched by this terrible disease. I’m saddened by your loss. As a nation, we are thankfully faring better than many other countries, but it will be years before we fully recover from the legacy of this disease.

I also want to extend my gratitude to all of the first responders, medical staff, grocery workers, truck drivers, and everyone else who is working so hard to try to keep goods flowing and our friends and family safe. You are all heroes.

I know it’s tough being told to stay home and stay inside so you can help us all stay safe. That got me to thinking of what we could all be doing to take advantage of this downtime. What can we do together so that when the day comes that we can slowly begin emerging from our unplanned homestays, we emerge from our dens with new knowledge, skills, and appreciation for the mountain landscape?

I’d like to create a dialogue so we can all help each other learn, grow, and maybe, enjoy having the time to hone our knowledge and skills.

How many episodes of this Podcast remain unlistened to? By the way, that’s an easy win. Hunker down in your easy chair and let the stories wash over you. Immerse into tales of ice battleships, insect apocalypses, reintroduced wolves, and locally filmed blockbusters.

You can follow ancient footprints leading archaeologists to entirely new theories as to how humans first migrated to the new world. Have you ever wondered how Calypso orchids fool bumblebees, check out episode 79? These are just a few of the 88 episodes, 240 stories and more than 44 hours of content. If all you do is binge listen to past episodes, you’ll emerge from isolation with a much greater knowledge of the mountains, their ecology and culture.

At this time, we’re limited to walking within a few kilometres of our front doors which means we’re walking the same routes over and over and over. It’s been one of the most difficult times for people like us that love the outdoors. Being limited to neighbourhood walks close to home can feel like being a bird in a cage.

As an educator, I look around me and I see stories. I see the story of a flower blooming in the spring. I see the story of the seasonal journey of a robin. I see long-dormant trees feeling the heat of the spring sun and responding with awakening roots and new leaves.

How are you doing right now? This pandemic has thrown all of our lives and our futures into limbo. In some ways right now, one day can simply flow into another day of isolation and frustration.

If it’s any consolation, we’re all bummed. The Coronavirus has trapped us all inside, while the natural world keeps on keepin’ on. At the same time, while we worry about today, history still hides stories waiting for us to discover them.

This unplanned pause made me think about what I should be doing to emerge from this isolation both energized and educated. What can I do every day that will make a better naturalist, guide, storyteller, photographer, and mentor?Click To Tweet

This unplanned pause made me think about what I should be doing to emerge from this isolation both energized and educated. What can I do every day that will make a better naturalist, guide, storyteller, photographer, and mentor?

As I looked inwardly on how I could use this time to grow, I suddenly realized that I wasn’t alone. It was clear that everyone who loves the outdoors is in the same boat. What if we created a community of lovers of nature and culture and built a way to collaborate to help us all see this as an opportunity for growth?

As I did a personal inventory of individual growth projects, I started thinking of ways that I might be able to share ideas with you. How can I help YOU take this time, time you never planned for or wanted, but take it anyway and leverage it to improve your knowledge of the landscape around you, the stories of the people that came before you, and the daily changes that are always happening if you take the time to notice them.

As a business, I tell clients that my job is simple, “I sell wow”, but sometimes it’s hard to feel that at the moment. I’m hoping to help you see your time trapped within walking distance of your driveway and help make it transformational.

Redefining your Neighbourhood walk

Are you going for neighbourhood walks? Are there any trails you can wander where you live? When you do your next walk, in addition to your awareness of physical distancing, why not throw a few additional things into your bag? For example, you could add:

• A pair of Binoculars
• A flower or bird Identification book
• A Journal to keep track of what you discover, new impressions, and maybe even a few sketches.
• What about a magnifying glass?

I know a lot of us are using our walks as our sole source of exercise and that’s important. The gyms and pools are closed. The golf courses are not likely to open and the famous spring hikes like Lady Macdonald, Mount Yamnusca, and Heart Mountain are all closed.

Do your walk. Get your exercise...and then do something else: do it again...differently. Walk slowly and along the way take the time to truly see the things you race past most days.Click To Tweet

So do your walk. Get your exercise…and then do something else: do it again…differently. Walk slowly and along the way take the time to truly see the things you race past most days.

Stop and try to notice everything around you.

Listen to every sound. So often, our ears are tuned to urban sounds, but with a little practice, you begin to notice an entirely new soundscape – nature’s orchestra.

Wait for things to happen. By slowing your pace, you have the time to be truly present and aware of your surroundings. Before you realize it, you’ll notice a flash of feathers, or the chatter of a squirrel, or even the distant drumming of a pileated woodpecker.

When this happens, stop and look. While this sounds obvious, so much of what happens in nature happens in our peripheral vision. How often have you simply ignored that flurry of feathers or the distant sound of a woodpecker? Once you tune your peripheral vision, you’ll suddenly see a dark-eyed junco hoping through the leaf litter on the side of the trail. You’ll spot a red squirrel scramble up a spruce tree and then seemingly disappear, only to surprise you by chattering at you from a totally different tree.

Spending time simply watching these natural events helps you to become much more familiar with the familiar, those common animals and birds we often don’t even notice. Just because something is common, doesn’t make it uninteresting. I’m just as guilty of this as you. As a photographer, my files are full of images of exciting and dramatic things – even photographs of a female grizzly nursing her young. Do you know what my library is extremely lacking? I need photographs of ravens, red squirrels, dark-eyed juncos, all manner of chickadees. Too often, we dismiss the common and hunt for the extraordinary.

We need to embrace the common. Those animals, birds, and plants that we see every day are the foundation of our neighbourhood. The spectacular and exotic are exciting, but just like we need to spend the time to get to know our closest human neighbours, our most prominent ecological neighbours can teach us all manner of things.

Each local bird has a different role in the ecosystem. Its role is often referred to as its niche. Pay attention to how they interact with their environment. Where do they stop to feed? What foods do they prefer? Are they a specific feeder like a swallow catching insects on the wing or are they a more general feeder like a jay, willing to down just about any tasty morsel? Do they have any rivals for their territory? Just like in business, nature is full of competition and with warming climates, new competitors are moving into the territories of established species.

Around you, nature’s annual events are happening. Birds are returning from their southern migrations. There is no better time to begin to learn birds than during the spring and fall migration. Cold Canadian winters have taught birds with any lick of sense to get the heck out, and so many of our familiar friends head south for the winter months.

Those hardy birds that stick around, are truly northern specialists. Birds like the Canada jay, black-capped chickadee, red-breasted nuthatch, and the ever-present raven have learned to thrive in frigid Canadian winters. In fact, while we’re still shivering indoors, the Canada jay builds its nest in mid-winter. In another episode, I’ll go into great detail about their amazingly well-insulated nests and how they build the perfect winter nursery.

More importantly though is that during the summer months, jays collect all manner of tasty bits of food and store them in thousands of secret stashes – and it can remember where they are hidden. Heck, I can’t even find the yogurt in my fridge. Honey…where’s the yogurt? This larder disconnects them from the need to wait until warm summer temperatures make enough food available for them to be able to nourish their chicks. Instead, they, like us, wander over to their pantry and dinner is served. Suffice it to say, this common local is also one of the most interesting birds around us and well worth paying close attention to.

Watch for new arrivals

Are you noticing birds returning that you haven’t seen since last summer? Take note of who the arrivals are, and when you first notice them. Remember that nature has an annual cycle that repeats year after year. When did you see your first robin this year? I saw mine about two weeks ago. Have you heard its song yet? I haven’t. They’re back in the mountains but they’re not ready to serenade potential mates just yet. Do you live in Calgary or Edmonton? Are they singing there yet? Remember that different ecologies will have different annual patterns. The prairies are lower in elevation and often well ahead of the mountains in terms of their seasonal changes.

Are you heading west? Well dropping off of the Kicking Horse Pass you very quickly descend to the same elevation as Calgary by the time you arrive at Emerald Lake. Expect to see things there before you see them here. Next time you cross the divide though, how fast do you see plants that simply don’t exist on the east side of the Continental Divide. The change happens much faster than you might think.

Once the birds begin to arrive, watch for the changes. Pay attention to the trends as early arrivals are joined by those birds that migrate later. Who came first? When did you see your first warbler? osprey? or kingfisher?

Look for strangers. People that live in the city know where they should go and where they shouldn’t. They develop an innate ability to see something that just seems wrong. We develop urban survival skills by paying attention to the subtle signs that are always around us. Well, on your daily excursions, look for something that doesn’t belong. As you first begin this new adventure of observation, it might just be a bird, animal, or plant that you’ve not yet become familiar with.

As you’re observational skills progress though, you may be amazed the first time you see a bird that simply doesn’t belong here. Occasionally, during migrations birds can be blown off course. This is the time of year where you can encounter some exciting new visitors, but only if you’re looking for them.

We’re also on the cusp of seeing our first flowers of the season. Our garden has just emerged from beneath this winters snow, and already there are a few tiny flowers blooming. Any day now, the first crocus flowers will be spotted on sunny hillsides (if they’re not already there). Have you seen any crocuses yet? This begins a cascade of colour as more and more flowers begin to bloom.

While you're walking look for plants that aren't blooming but are showing signs that their flowers are imminent. It's worth making a note in the notebook that you should start carrying around with you.Click To Tweet

While you’re walking look for plants that aren’t blooming but are showing signs that their flowers are imminent. It’s worth making a note in the notebook that you should start carrying around with you. Once you notice buds, you know where to look for flowers on tomorrow’s walk…or maybe the day after.

As a photographer, that’s my strategy for seasonal plant photography outings. Try to do a trail that traverses numerous habitats, and do it once a week. Buds that I see this week, with be next week’s flowers. I learn the seasonal procession of plants and each flutter that flushes from my periphery helps me to learn how other members of the community connect to those blooming flowers.

The first pussy willows are already out. Before we know it the poplar and aspen trees will be bursting into flower. Yes, you heard that right…flower. No they don’t get fancy flowers like a rose or orchid, but they flower just the same. Before the first leave comes out, male trees will produce long pollen-producing catkins and the female trees will respond with cotton-like seed bunches. Before you know it, the air is alive with floating poplar and aspen fluff…and it all begins before the first leave emerges. If you’re going to use the wind to spread your pollen, why let a bunch of leaves get in the way, flower first, and then the leaves can take over.

As you walk, look at each piece of green growing along the trail. When it flowers, see if you can recognize it. Did you know that many of our trails are lined with wild strawberry flowers? You do now. Look for them as they first appear. Try to learn as many new friends as you can, and learn them as they bloom. Once again, you become attuned to the spring succession of blooming. Next year, you’ll anticipate the first crocus, calypso orchid, and arnica.

As you walk, always look for the changes that are taking place. Every day, try to find a new surprise. Take your time until you find the hidden gems. Ask yourself why are they here? Understanding what draws plants to a particular habitat can help you unravel their true story. Are there certain nutrients in the soil that they need? Do they, like the paintbrush, parasitize the roots of other plants. What insects might be buzzing around and perhaps pollinating the flower?

As you walk, try to focus on what’s new today? What’s that sound?…try to learn the common ones.
If you see an animal…again, ask yourself “why is it here?” the answer matters. If you remember bear 148 a few years ago. It kept getting into trouble because it was drawn to a critical late summer food source, buffaloberries. Understanding what draws an animal to a particular location can help you gain a much better understanding of their seasonal habits, foods, and life history.

Learn your habitats…each habitat represents nature’s neighbourhoods.

Every habitat is a reflection of the amount of moisture, average temperature, growing season, soil, exposure to sunlight, availability of food, and risk to predators. A short walk can take you through many unique habitats. For the birds and animals that call a particular habitat home, it’s because it provides food, availability of mates, protection, or shelter. Many animals are drawn to specific habitats at different times of the year. This is why, in the case of grizzly bears, the riches available in particular habitats at specific times of the year, such as buffaloberries in mid-July, keep them moving seasonally through numerous habitats rich in nutritious plants, and in some cases, important animal foods like elk, deer, and moose calves.

Nature has a rhythm and by learning that rhythm, you can better understand the landscape around you. You’ll begin to look at the landscape like an old friend. As the seasonal rhythm progresses, you’ll look forward to the changes you know are coming and the shifting bird and animal populations that reflect those changes.

There’s no better time to study that rhythm then to do it when you are limited to walking the same route day in and day out. Drink it all in, study it, watch for the subtle changes. Why do calypso, or yellow lady-slipper orchids grow in one habitat, but not in an area adjacent? What is unique about where you see those beautiful flowers. Learn the pattern, and you’ll know what to look for next season…and when to hunt for it.

Get to know your neighbours

Walk with awareness. It’s too easy to walk with fear and resentment. As you walk, hone in on each sound and every flash of movement. Take time to ferret out the source so you can really learn the other members of your neighbourhood. Don’t know that bird, watch it closely. Does it have any distinguishing features? Unique markings? Where is it? Is it hopping around the leaf litter like a junco, perched along the trunk of the tree like a nuthatch or woodpecker, perching like a robin, or soaring like a hawk?

Does it remind you of a bird you know? For instance, you may not know the varied thrush if you see it, but you will notice that its body is very similar to a bird you do know – the American robin.
Listen to the sounds it makes. If you can, sing-along, memorize the sounds. Later, you can use a variety of low-cost apps to help you identify the bird, often by its song or call alone.

Follow your nose. What does your neighbourhood smell like - what is YOUR smell of home? Click To Tweet

Follow your nose. What does your neighbourhood smell like – what is YOUR smell of home? For me, the most distinctive smell of my mountain home occurs early-June when the wolf willow blooms. While the flowers of this tall shrub are small and easily missed if you don’t look for them, the scent simply cannot be ignored.

If you find yourself walking along a river and are overcome by an incredibly sweet, yet pungent smell, stop and find the cause. You’ll see a tall shrub with silvery, willow-style leaves and, if you look carefully, small yellow bell-like flowers. These small flowers punch way out of their weight class when it comes to scent. That strong scent brings in bees which are essential for pollinating the flowers.

What does your neighbourhood sound like? Do you notice different smells at different times of the year? Depending on where you’re wandering, the soothing smell of a spruce and pine forest will contrast with the pitchy smell of a forest attacked by the mountain pine beetle.

Smell is the sense most tied to memory. My father was a pipe smoker. Although few people smoke a pipe today, whenever someone lights one up, I’m instantly reminded of my father and my mind wanders to fond memories of times spent with my dad. Smell connects us like no other sense.

Meet your elders

If you know an elder, sit down and talk with them if you can. If you can’t risk sitting down with them, see if you can use Zoom, Skype, or even just a phone call to connect with them. Our elders are the keepers of our history. We live in a valley that is rich in history. The mountains have a history resplendent with stories of exploration, coal mining, alpinism, and tourism, and those are just the new stories. While European settlers can boast 150 years or so of exploration, our indigenous neighbours have been here for at least 10 times as long. Their connection with the landscape, its ecology, and history is exceedingly rich and vital to our understanding of the mountain ecology.

If you have an opportunity to talk to an elder, don’t waste it. Let them teach you a story, and if you can, record the story (with their permission) and share it. Our ability to hear the stories from the people that lived them has an expiry date. Last year I was lucky enough to take a tour of the mining history of Canmore with Gerry Stephenson. For years, Gerry was the head mine engineer for the Canmore Mines. He built Quarry Lake, Canmore’s most important summer swimming hole from an old open pit mine.

Stories live as long as the people that lived them live…or as long as the people that loved them share them.Click To Tweet

Gerry’s stories taught me things I never ever knew about Canmore – and I’ve lived here for 35 years. Unfortunately, Gerry passed away this past year. I’m so thankful that I had the chance to learn from his many decades of knowledge, and his amazing stories. Remember, stories live as long as the people that lived them live…or as long as the people that loved them share them. I have a feeling that Gerry will be with us for a very long time because of the many people who continue to share his stories.

What is YOUR isolation story?

The conditions placed upon us during this pandemic haven’t happened since the 1919 Spanish flu pandemic more than 100 years ago. A month ago, your world changed and instead of waking up, showering, brushing your teeth, and sallying forth to the salt mines, you were told to stay home and binge-watch Netflix to keep us all safe. I know you didn’t settle into 15 seasons of Glee, but rather you’re going to use this episode as a rallying cry of careful exploration.

At the same time, nobody will have the same experience that you’re having. What is YOUR isolation story? I’m hoping that some of you will be able to share something that happened during your isolation that became transformational. When every day is the same as the next, only you can decide to seize the day and make this experience meaningful. If you have found new meaning, new understanding, or an expanding sense of place, I want to hear from you.

Our time in isolation can be transformational, or something else. The choice is up to you. Let me help you find the way to a new understanding. Your explorations will also help me to grow as well. Simply writing this episode has been immensely motivating to me. You see, I’m on the same journey as you. Just like you, I’ve been seduced by the ability to pick a new trail every day. I’ve been hamstrung by schedules so that I’ve had to race along a trail towards some distant destination. Once I got there, I’ve mowed down a sandwich, rang the bell, and raced back to the car.

What I’m proposing here is an entirely new type of exploring. As a guide, my favourite product is a two-hour nature walk I do for Australian clients. We go out for two to two-and-a-half hours and don’t even walk two kilometres. It’s about immersion. There is no particular destination. It’s a lovely loop trail, but the focus is not on getting anywhere, it’s on being where we are. It’s about exploring several neighbourhoods and helping guests understand the unique landscape we have here.

I’m now doing the same as you. Exploring more intimately, listening more carefully, documenting more meaningfully, and loving where I live more deeply.

What have you learned about your neighbourhood, culture, or ecological self because of this unplanned opportunity for reflection?Click To Tweet

What have you learned about your neighbourhood, culture, or ecological self because of this unplanned opportunity for reflection? None of us planned this, but I want to know that some of us are emerging with a renewed understanding of everything that grows, tweets or twitters, bugles, sings, parasitizes, migrates, predates, and…whatever I’ve missed.

What’s happening in your yard? While mine still has a deep snowpack, it won’t be long before I see green grass and yellow dandelion heads popping up. If truth be told, in my yard, it’s mostly clover and dandelions, with the occasional blade of grass. Have you ever really looked at a dandelion? What is it? Is a dandelion a flower or is it a colony of flowers? Our yard and garden can be our safari.

Mountain Nature and Culture Book Club

How many books have you bought that remain unread? Why don’t we read a few of them together? What books have you been waiting to read? I have two in particular that have been patiently waiting for me to read them:

• Firestorm: How Wildfire Will Shape Our Future by Edward Struzik. This book explores the changing landscape of fire across western North America. Fire regimes have changed over the past two decades due partly to changing climates, but much more as a result of a century of fire suppression. This book looks at the latest science and offers a prescription for creating a new future where we embrace the natural role of fire and no longer fight natural processes vital to ecological integrity.
• The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World,  by Peter Wohlleben. New research has shown that trees form a community with parent trees nurturing the community by sharing nutrients with those trees that may be sick and helping to reduce the impacts of extremes of temperature, and the impacts of drought. Wohllenben shows that forests are indeed alive and they are also helping each other.

I’ve just created the Mountain Nature and Culture Book Club. If you’d like to join, pop over to Facebook and simply type the group name into the search bar. What’s that? You don’t do Facebook. In that case, go to the website for this podcast and subscribe to the newsletter. You can connect with the show at MountainNaturePodcast.com. While there’s a group on FaceBook, I’ll have a mailing list that will allow everyone to connect. Once a week, we’ll do an online video meeting where you can join with your computer, smartphone, or just your landline if you’re into nature and culture but not the tech.

Maybe collectively we can spur each other to turn the pages and power through procrastination.

New Tools

At the same time, I’ve been thinking how I can use this time to brush up on knowledge that sometimes fades during a long winter, and also learn new skills in preparation for the day we all venture out again.

Years ago, when I was in university, I used flashcards to study for exams. Each card would have a question on one side and the answer on the other. By repeatedly reviewing the cards, I gradually absorbed the material.

I’ve been developing a system of flashcards to refresh my memory of locally flowering plants. Every spring, I head out and while most of the wildflowers are old friends, there are always those that I encounter on a more occasional basis. I’m building a huge set of flashcards that will help you and me to focus on which plants we individually need to either learn or, as the case may be, reacquaint ourselves with.

I’m also looking to expand my birding skills. As a naturalist, I’ve always been a generalist and as such, I’m merely a mediocre birder. Not only am I developing a series of flashcards for learning visual identification, but also audio. How many times have you been out and heard a very distinctive bird song or alarm call? I’m comfortable with the most common birds, but I have a great deal to learn.

This is why I’m developing a series of audio flashcards, but instead of an image, it will play a mystery song or call of a bird found in the Rockies. Like all flashcards, repetition will (hopefully) help train my ear to better recognize the soundscape that surrounds me as I wander the mountain landscape.

I’m going to make these flashcards available to anyone that is interested in having a copy. If we’re all stuck inside together, then why not learn together. They use an open-source application called Anki that is available on desktop, Mac, Android, and iOS. If you use any of the major platforms, you should be able to take advantage of these learning tools.

Would you like to get your hands on these tools? Simply visit MountainNaturePodcast.com and click the subscribe link. You’ll get an email with a link to download the cards as well as instructions on how to set things up for your iPhone, Android, or desktop computer.

It’s going to take a week or so for me to get them ready so please be patient. The reason I’m working on a subscription basis is that the decks will be an evolving and growing thing. I’ll add new cards, improve cards as I get new photographs, and I’ll incorporate the feedback from people that are using them.

Are there tools you would like to see? Let me know in the comments about this episode. If I don’t know your interest, I won’t be able to see how I can help.

Nature and Culture have a new home

I’ve just created the Mountain Nature and Culture Facebook group. It’s a place where we can share our learning adventures, important educational material, new discoveries, and relevant media stories.

If you learned something new today that you think other members would benefit from, then this is the place to share it. We’re all in this together and this is our opportunity to build a new community of nature lovers, cultural explorers, and ecological observers. Are you in? You know what to do if you’d like to participate. Just visit MountainNaturePodcast.com and join the adventure. Let’s all grow together.

This episode has altered so many of the plans that I had for this podcast. It’s altered them because my focus is now shifted to offering new skills and ideas so we can grow and learn together. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be doing shows focussed on how we can implement some of the ideas I’ve put forward this week.

I’ll also see if I can collaborate with people that can bring unique perspectives to the conversation. If you know of someone I should talk to, please drop me a line at info@wardcameron.com and if it fits our new path, I’m happy to reach out.

You can also reach out personally on Twitter @wardcameron. Don’t forget that when this all begins to change, that Ward Cameron Enterprises is here to help you to explore the mountains around you. Let me guide your exploration, learning, and if I can help lead you on a personal journey towards becoming more intimate with your mountain landscape. Just because, we can’t go out in person, doesn’t mean we can’t work together. I’m available for personal consulting and training. All you need to do is reach out and we’ll create a personal route to exploration.

I really want to thank you for taking time out of your day to share it with me. We’re all on a pandemic enforced journey and I hope to be a positive part of yours. Stay safe, explore with purpose, observe, record, and reconnect with your sense of wonder. I look forward to talking with you again soon.