Forest Symphony

This time of year brings an amazing symphony of sounds in the forest. Often it is the bull elk with their high pitched bugles that end in a strange series of rough coughs or it is the hen turkeys calling to their maturing flock or the little chickory squirrels scolding me for disturbing their morning. The forest is peaceful but definitely not quiet.

Five days a week I begin my day with an hour’s walk in the woods just as the sun is being to lighten the eastern sky. It is my special time to relax and to prepare for the coming challenges of the day. I always grab my walking stick by the front door just in case I need a little help crossing a creek or have to run off a trespassing hunter.

As I walked along this morning I discovered that a mature bull was paralleling me no more than 100 feet to the south. He was so intent on his task of calling out the other bulls that he never heard or noticed me. We both headed west for about a mile until I came to a neighbor’s fence. I waited to see if he would continue on but instead he came out of the woods and passed by me about fifty feet away. He was still oblivious to my presence, still bugling. Sometimes another bull to the north would answer but many of his challenges went answered. Finally he drifted off to the southwest and I headed home.

The sun was just breaking over the Wet Mountains on my return and I thought about just how lucky I am to start my day like this. Most of my friends and family are fighting the commuter traffic to work while I am listening to the forest symphony.

From Fleur Creek Farm.