Where the Wild Things Are

[TelosianEmbrace]

Often I walk into the bush and simply sit quietly, listen and breathe. The world passes around me, and the importance of linear time simply fades away.
Once, walking back towards Churchill National Park from Lysterfield lake park, I heard an approaching mob of kangaroos, and stopped dead in my tracks. I was obviously on their path through dense undergrowth. As I stood still the leading roo edged closer and closer, eventually leaning forward and sniffing at my walking stick. It was inches away! A magical moment.
Another time I was walking through a stretch of bush not far from 'The Briars'. I stopped, sat down on the ground and looked around. It took a little while for me to see them, yet there they were. Playing in the dry stream bed just below me were three baby foxes! They would bite, claw and grapple, rolling over each other, completely oblivious of my presence. I hardly dared breathe! I watched them for a number of minutes before they started to break up and turn their attention to doing something else. Before I knew it, they were heading up the embankment towards me! As I sat there, stock still, not daring to turn my head, two moved past below me, and one climbed up higher and passed behind me. Then they were gone.
Would anyone like to share their own attunement with wild animals?

[mahalall]

Psychotic Human experiences to one side,

Atmospheric high pressure, not a cloud in slight warm sunshine. Sitting on a large rock at the base of a waterfall in the Dumfries and Galloway forrest. A adder ( poisonous snake native to Northern Europe) coils out up upon the rock just in front-looks and glides off.
Understanding respect to all reptilians

[ghostrider]

I have a bird feeder in my backyard my own personal greenbelt , every kind of bird sits and waits for me to fill the feeder and squirrels stay close they don't seem afraid of me at all. it so still and calm and just plain bliss to be in tune with nature. even the bluejays and cardinals get along with the sparrows and starlings and such.

[Limor Wolf]

Hello TelosianEmbrace, I do not live in or around nature (the biggest mistake of my life) and my My environment is totally constructed from old urban buldings and concrete.my soul yearns for the connection with nature,earth and its animals...so,I have nothing to contribute here,but I am so happy to listen to others attunment with wild life,as you call it and your magical moments being around nature.I close my eyes and imagine I am there!

Give my regards to the Kangaroos :-) what a lovely description of your glimpse on them while you remained unnoticed..


Cheers,

Limor

[TelosianEmbrace]

Hello TelosianEmbrace, I do not live in or around nature (the biggest mistake of my life) and my My environment is totally constructed from old urban buldings and concrete.my soul yearns for the connection with nature,earth and its animals...so,I have nothing to contribute here,but I am so happy to listen to others attunment with wild life,as you call it and your magical moments being around nature.I close my eyes and imagine I am there!

Give my regards to the Kangaroos :-) what a lovely description of your glimpse on them while you remained unnoticed..


Cheers,

Limor

Hi Limor. I used to live in an inner suburb of Melbourne, and trains and trams and buses rushed past my door from around 6 in the morning til late at night. I did make a bird table, and feed the sparrows and doves but yes, it is difficult. I did manage to get away on some weekends, though. I found cities to suck in souls and never let them go! I hope you can find opportunities to get out into nature. It keeps me sane and balanced, and dare I say it, simply breathing the air does wonders for my physical health.

[ktlight]

I have a friend who has a bird table and he regularly fills the feeders with nuts. He also has a cat who loves him to bits. The only trouble is that he brings out his air gun to shoot the squirrels. He says he shoots them to stop them from eating the bird nuts.

[Lord Sidious]

When I was in the army, we would see animals all the time, from insects to reptiles and others.
I fell asleep one time on piquet duty whilst manning an m60 machine gun.
I woke up with a start to find a HUGE black shape coming right at me.
By reflex, I squeezed the trigger, only to find the nugget before me had taken the safety off and not put it back on.
So, off goes a stream of blanks and wakes up everyone for miles.
It was a kangaroo and it bounced right over me and kept going.
Frightened the daylights out of me too, let me tell you.

Another time, when I was a kid, I was out on the fishing boat with my stepfather.
We were coming back from the days work to the abrolhos islands.
In the distance, I saw something leaping in and out of the water.
As we got closer, it came over to us, it was a dolphin!
I asked my stepfather where it went, so he told me to go look over the bow.
It wasn't A dolphin, it was a small pod of em, even a baby.
And they were racing us and winning.

Recently, I was staying with friends in Brisbane when I was there to get the guy out of jail.
They live in a semi rural situation out of town.
Every day, they feed the wild birds in the area, including a young bird that has a foot missing and half a beak.
A new member here, Fenexrep buys heart to feed the birds all the time and these guys are keeping the little guy alive, in my opinion.


Like Limor, I don't like being surrounded by man made, sterile compounds like concrete, steel and the rest.
I love the desert and the bush, it is much more relaxing there for me.

[TelosianEmbrace]

I have a friend who has a bird table and he regularly fills the feeders with nuts. He also has a cat who loves him to bits. The only trouble is that he brings out his air gun to shoot the squirrels. He says he shoots them to stop them from eating the bird nuts.
Now that's his judgement, isn't it? The squirrel is just doing it's thing. I have tremendous difficulty understanding how we can judge one animal as native and another as a pest. These animals/plants are just trying to survive. Perhaps if we were in tune with nature, then nature wouldn't be mirroring our own rampant greed and monoculturalism!

[Terra]

Great thread TelosianEmbrace.

This topic is exactly why I love going fishing so much here in Southern England, I don't catch much but I love being outside and just watching.

One spring time I was fishing the local canal and had stayed there over night in my bivvy hoping to catch some carp. When I woke up the next morning it was chilly and the mist was rising off of the water with a lovely fresh aroma in the air. After boiling the kettle I was slurping on my coffee watching for movement on the water surface, for a sign of a moving carp. Heard a splosh to my left a short distance away and I looked up to see a deer on the other side of the canal checking to his left and to his right. It then proceeded to walk into the water and swim over to my side of the canal, where he jumped up onto the bank ran across the towpath and up into the fields behind me. I will never forget that moment, it was inspirational and is the reason I love going out and catching nothing. Kingfishers live at that spot too and can often be seen flying and diving into the water to catch fry for thier supper.

Just last year I spent 5 days with my son fishing a river, we bivvied up in a farmers cow field next to a nice weedy run which I was hoping to catch some barbel from. On one evening we had an amazing few hours just as the sun was going down. Across on the other side of the river we watched a badger for ages doing a patrol of his local patch in the tall grass of a field. We were down-wind of him obviously and he didn't have a care in the world...apart from finding some food for his family I guess. After a while we then saw two fox cubs come into the same field and they playfully made thier way across to a gate and started pawing and jumping at each other. We took some photos without a flash but they werent any good unfortunately. It was a moment to cherish for us both.

Thankyou for your posts, I have greatly enjoyed reading them. :thumb:

Peace

PS ktlight, plug up his gun barrel with a potato next time ;)

[RMorgan]

Oh man...I love camping. I used to do it a lot, alone.

There was a night, when I was camping at a remote region of "Serra do Cipó", when I had one of the most terrifying and crazy experiences of my live.

I was inside my tent, preparing to sleep, when I started hearing steps outside...Oh man, it give me chills just to think about it.

It could be everything, but I was about 15 years old, and I started to think about that terrible Blair Witch movie, which I saw about a year or so before...I started to think about crazy mountain walkers, chupacabras, "guará" wolves, maniacs of all kinds and even Jason!! My imagination was running wild, and I just couldn´t stop thinking about how fragile and vulnerable I was inside a tent.

I thought about running away quickly, but the closer house was about 4 Km away...I didn´t have the courage to open the tent´s door to see what was going on, so I kept holding my machete by my side, during to whole night, for hours...I think I´ve prayed about a thousand of holy maries and our fathers, for real!

There was a moment when something really shook my tent...Man, my whole life was screening in my head like a movie...It was terrible.

So, I just stood for hours, in the same position, holding my machete, hearing the steps, all kinds of weird noises, things touching my tent, until the first sun light, when I took courage to go outside, because I could´t hold my piss anymore!

Juts cows...a bunch of cows... Man, I felt so stupid! Anyway, I couldn´t stay there for another night, so I took my things and went home.

LOL

Cheers,

Raf.

[Terra]

Oh man...I love camping. I used to do it a lot, alone.

There was a night, when I was camping at a remote region of "Serra do Cipó", when I had one of the most terrifying and crazy experiences of my live.

I was inside my tent, preparing to sleep, when I started hearing steps outside...Oh man, it give me chills just to think about it.

It could be everything, but I was about 15 years old, and I started to think about that terrible Blair Witch movie, which I saw about a year or so before...I started to think about crazy mountain walkers, chupacabras, "guará" wolves, maniacs of all kinds and even Jason!! My imagination was running wild, and I just couldn´t stop thinking about how fragile and vulnerable I was inside a tent.

I thought about running away quickly, but the closer house was about 4 Km away...I didn´t have the courage to open the tent´s door to see what was going on, so I kept holding my machete by my side, during to whole night, for hours...I think I´ve prayed about a thousand of holy maries and our fathers, for real!

There was a moment when something really shook my tent...Man, my whole life was screening in my head like a movie...It was terrible.

So, I just stood for hours, in the same position, holding my machete, hearing the steps, all kinds of weird noises, things touching my tent, until the first sun light, when I took courage to go outside, because I could´t hold my piss anymore!

Juts cows...a bunch of cows... Man, I felt so stupid! Anyway, I couldn´t stay there for another night, so I took my things and went home.

LOL

Cheers,

Raf.

Raf that was funny, thankyou.. Mooo000 :cow:
I get like that some nights in my bivvy. You get so tense, and work yourself up so much you cannot sleep so the longer it goes on hahaha. For me it is usually rats though that come for loose bait I have dropped on the ground, and I take an old WWII german collapsable shovel with me just in case, instead of a machete.

Cheers mate.
Mooo000 :cow:

[markoid]

I have had some delightful experiences with dolphins.. both captive and wild. I became quite obsessed with them after living in Hawaii for a while and used to attempt interaction whenever it seemed possible. Once while walking on the beach I spotted some not very far from shore and jumped in the water and swam out to them... couldn't see them at first but could here them whistling and clicking. I kept submerging because I know they prefer it if you are under the surface.. suddenly there was 2 of them very close, they swam around me in a circle and directed clicks at me.. I could actually feel the clicks hitting and penetrating me. At the end they blasted my 3rd chakra really strongly and I burst to the surface laughing and crying at the same time and was quite blissed out for the rest of the afternoon.
Also birds.. I have very close connection with also and have, on 3 occasions had wild birds that have come to stay with me, as in living inside the house during the day and only leaving at sunset each day when made to leave. 2 of these were magpies and it seemed that they were outcasts as they were attacked by others of their own kind when they ventured outside. Each time they stayed for about 3 or 4 months. 1 of them used to sit on the back of a chair around the table while we were chatting and having a cuppa tea and such and if everyone started laughing he would throw his head back in this quite bizarre position to imitate a human sounding laugh... it was intriguing and hilarious.

[WhiteFeather]

Hello TelosianEmbrace, I do not live in or around nature (the biggest mistake of my life) and my My environment is totally constructed from old urban buldings and concrete.my soul yearns for the connection with nature,earth and its animals...so,I have nothing to contribute here,but I am so happy to listen to others attunment with wild life,as you call it and your magical moments being around nature.I close my eyes and imagine I am there!

Give my regards to the Kangaroos :-) what a lovely description of your glimpse on them while you remained unnoticed..


Cheers,

Limor

For you Limor, enjoyed with meditation.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGEHYY8c8VM

¤=[Post Update]=¤

Thats Bliss TE, Thanks for sharing with us.

[DeDukshyn]

Animals fear human fear ... this is a great compliment to your testimony.

As a child I was a nature freak. We lived in a trailer backed straight to crown land, interior of BC so heavily wooded. I used to spend hours in the forest (even as young as 7), and somehow my mother let me do this (different times, I guess). Never once did I ever feel remotely lost or need a compass or even considered anything like that; when I was done, I went home - somehow it just worked. I used to catch frogs, toads, snakes, mice, things I didn't know what it was ... ; I even stuck my arm in a hole once only to be bit by some reasonably sized mammal which was still attached to my hand when I pulled it out ... hehe good times. I never was seriously hurt and amazingly the snakes never bit me once, which now I look back on in amazement. The bus stop was a mile walk (uphill both ways, 4 ft of snow year round .. lol, alright, but it actually was a mile) where bears and moose would often be seen. I'd try to get as close as I could feeling no fear, and I was able to get about 6 meters to a bear once. It finally noticed me then wandered off. As stupid as they sort of were (or how it may have been under different circumstances), I learned from these experiences that it surely would be that to think they naturally want to attack humans is wrong; the intensity of human fear is greatly disturbing to their more subtle natural systems - it it is so strong it instills our fear in them, hence all animals seem to have a natural "fear of humans" whereas in nature many, many animals get along nicely without having to "domesticate" another.

My 2 cents ;)

[WhiteFeather]

"We must all revert back to nature and the universe to its entirety, simply because we are all connected, and related to this living and instructional consciousness field that thrives within every life form infinitely". Whitefeather

[Orph]

One day, I was riding my bicycle home from work down a bike path that cuts through a small creek bed that has lots of brush and undergrowth. As I was nearing the creek, I saw a bobcat come out of the brush and walk nonchalantly across the path and then disappear back into the bushes. But the amazing thing was, this bobcat looked exactly like a Bengal tiger! I kid you not. This thing had vivid orange and black stripes. A dead ringer for a tiger, except, of course, it's size and those whiskers that only Bobcats have.

[chancy]

I was trekking by myself when I was in my teens. My favorite place to go was down the dead end road not far from the farm. This particular time I happened to see a car over turned on it's roof about half way down the coulee. This was a very deep coulee and I noticed that the dead end sign was missing! This was not good! I knew that there might be people still in the car so without any thought I started jumping down the ledges without a care in the world until................right between my legs was a rattlesnake curled up and sunning himself. (Thank goodness he was asleep!) It wasn't until he heard the sound of my jumping on his ledge that he woke up. This was really not good! Instantly my heart started to pound outside my chest and I was in extreme fear since I knew I could never make it up the coulee and miles of walking back to the farm before the venom would have the best of me. By this time I was jumping higher than I could ever jump while playing basketball! Call it fate but that curled up sunning rattler never bit me. To this day it was only fate that saved me since I would have died before I reached the top of the coulee and no one knew where I was.
That day I got to the car and thank goodness there was no one in it. Apparently on the weekend a bunch of fellows were drunk and hit the dead end sign at 65 - 70 miles an hour and went off that cliff landing on the roof. All the occupants were completely wasted and all made it out by climbing up the coulee cliffs to the closest farm yard for a ride back to town to continue the weekend party without a care in the world considering what just happened.
I have to admit I think of this experience often since I definitely respect rattlesnakes. When they are curled up they can strike as far as they are long. I really had no chance but the Gods were smiling on me that day................

Chancy

[Carmen]

A couple of years back my daughter put a wild duck's egg in with a hen sitting on eggs. The duckling hatched along with the little yellow and black chickens and probably thought it was a chicken. Anyway, it must have realized after growing up that it was a duck and flew away to join its wild counterparts. Last year she produced her own ducklings and introduced them to the henrun Don't know where she got in and out but she proceded to lead her babies back and forward between hen run and pond. She started off with out twelve ducklings and ended up with four. She is one smart duck as she knows she will get tucker at the hen run. After her babies were big she spent the autumn and winter away on duck business. A couple of days ago she was back in the hen run with her wild mate. He was most uncomfortable in the hen enclosure and flew away. She will probably do the same as she did last year and go back and forward from pond to hen run. She is quite cute. I like ducks

[TelosianEmbrace]

There are some really touching experiences recounted here. Here are another couple from me on an aquatic theme.
I was walking along the beach and saw a young seal flapping around on the surface about 150 metres offshore. I watched it for a little while, and a small group gathered. Another man and I decided to swim out to it. This seal was totally comfortable with our presence. I was expecting it to zoom off at any moment, but no, it allowed us to approach and even duck dive underneath it and come out the other side! I was painfully aware of how cumbersome I felt in the water as I watched it roll and flap.
I was swimming exuberantly in the surf up at Bateman's Bay, bodysurfing and jumping into the waves. I turned and just a matter of metres away, a large adult dolphin jumped straight out of the water, clearing it by a few feet. The sun caught the water droplets, it was a spectacular sight! To have such a large creature so close to me in the water and not even knowing it was there was certainly food for thought!

[Ineffable Hitchhiker]

In June, I went on a journey "home". Home is the South African bush.
There is an enormous park in South Africa. It is called The Kruger National Park (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kruger_National_Park). We used to go there quite often, when I was younger, but at that age never really appreciated the real "value" of such a trip.

I have difficulty talking about this particular holiday without welling up in tears.
It was so beautiful and "spiritual", that words cannot describe what I want to convey.
The giraffe that scratched its ear and nose on a branch; the baby elephant playing with a stick ; the leopard that stared at us with such intesity ; the lions that lazed in the sun with fat bellies ; the oxpecker birds cleaning the zebras; the group of baby hyenas peering at the nosey spectators ....oh, I could go on and on.
Many hours were spent just observing the animals, with hardly a word spoken. What is there left to say?
The magnificence of all the animals, in their natural surroundings, was something I will never forget and am very grateful for this experience.
Already saving for the next trip and hope to be back there very soon.

[Ria]

I am of there soon, love the wild life, can't get enough of it. This was my fathers world, circumstance didn't allow me to share. Many zebra, waterbuck, antelope, springbuck, would hang out with the cattle.
I loved it when giraffe come by put its head in the window nicking a cucumber. got to run, speak later.

[Ria]

My father was a wild man, at eight years old he would be sent of into the African bush with one bullet, as they were expensive, to bring back something big enough to feed the whole family.
To sustain himself he would get hold of a queen bee, while he held onto the queen bee, helped himself to honey. This would stop the other bees attacking,
all communication is done by pheromones [I think theirs more to it than that]
He could live out side quit happily commune with nature.
Sitting with my sister he jumped up "there is a snake" ran out of the house went about 200 yards, came back with the snake, my sister enquiring "how did you know", "the birds told me".
There is much to tell, getting back to me.
I have four fox cubs in my garden this year, there naughty but I like them. if I sit quietly they come close sniffing the air for possible food sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. soon they go about their business sniffing, breaking into ruff and tumbles, ambushing each other at every opportunity.
Now the birds, I seem to think they are mine as they are in my back yard so to speak and I share the responsibility of taking care of the chicks.
I can hear, if it is a predatory bird, crow or cat, I go find, shoo off the intruder gesticulating like a mad woman. the parents seem to know why I am doing this. even if the nabbers don't.
I have a Robin that comes in from time to time particularly when he has his brood to feed. I watch him at the start of the season, which entails
proving that he is a good provider by giving her many offering all day long. When the chicks arrive, there squawking to be fed all day long. He has my sympathy and admiration.
I went to the trouble of saving a spider from going down the plug hole, putting it out side, the robin thought I'd pushed the boat out for him, as lunches go.
Back to bees, there are some fantastic things about bees, if the bee keeper is in accord with his bees, they have been know-en to go to the bee keeper funeral. in a gentle swirly swam. for me this is fantastic.

[crested-duck]

This thread has been a joy to read. I'm new to PA and have learned a lot reading threads. I reside on a small 4 acre farm with a pond. My sanctuary spot is down at the pond in the woods. Sometimes I sit for hours with our Lab.'s and watch the wildlife. There are always many beautiful creatures passing through. Deer cross the backside often and I watched one swimming last summer-had no idea they swim and was in awe. I feed the ducks twice daily and people are amazed when they see them surround me. We have wild mallards that come and reproduce every year. I raise crested ducks too. There has been a big grey heron and her youngster is white, eating lots of bass lately. There are many hawks around here too. When my boy was little we raised 2 sparrow hawks that fell out of nest till they could fly. I still see them occasionally fly over the property and it makes me feel good inside. I cannot tell how many different species of birds come through ,but all different colors and sizes through the seasons.The land behind the pond is owned by a ex PBR champion and I see PBR bulls grazing all the time. I've truely been blessed to live where I currently do and to see nature every day!

[DeDukshyn]

This thread has been a joy to read. I'm new to PA and have learned a lot reading threads. I reside on a small 4 acre farm with a pond. My sanctuary spot is down at the pond in the woods. Sometimes I sit for hours with our Lab.'s and watch the wildlife. There are always many beautiful creatures passing through. Deer cross the backside often and I watched one swimming last summer-had no idea they swim and was in awe. I feed the ducks twice daily and people are amazed when they see them surround me. We have wild mallards that come and reproduce every year. I raise crested ducks too. There has been a big grey heron and her youngster is white, eating lots of bass lately. There are many hawks around here too. When my boy was little we raised 2 sparrow hawks that fell out of nest till they could fly. I still see them occasionally fly over the property and it makes me feel good inside. I cannot tell how many different species of birds come through ,but all different colors and sizes through the seasons.The land behind the pond is owned by a ex PBR champion and I see PBR bulls grazing all the time. I've truely been blessed to live where I currently do and to see nature every day!

Sounds nice indeed.

I also raised a bird that'd been pushed out of the nest (or fell), it was a robin. I wasn't sure what to do with it but I noticed an adult robin was always hanging around me when I had the baby outside. On some instinct I assumed it was a parent, so I put the chick in a tray with a little nest I made and left it out for a few hours. The parent came and fed the chick! I did this until it was large enough to fly south for the winter. He hung around for a few days after just learning to fly (likely just while building some confidence) then it was gone ... I was so pleased I was able to actually help it -- it wouldn't have lasted a night otherwise.

[Ria]

After the rains in Africa it was interesting to find the land snails out and about some are the size of a big foot or so, I have some there shells. All-so there is this insect that is bright vermilion red velvety cushion shaped body that comes out to, my sister would place this inset on her blouse along with cochineal betel which is an iridescent emerald green and pretend they were broaches.
We later found out, the velvety cushion was part of the tic family.

[DeDukshyn]

For some reason I love snails .. yet slugs suck. No shell, no respect. that's just the way it goes ;-)

[Ria]

I just thought of another story.
A few years back we came across a baby chameleon in the road, did not think much of its chances being left there, brought it home.
We put the chameleon on to our index finger, he holding on, pointing the finger at an insect his long tongue would shoot out in a flash, so this how we went about feeding him. other times we would put him in the plants. He did not move that fast, his goggly eyes would be the most active part of him and of course he would camouflage him self, so there was a little effort in finding him. We had fun putting him on our clothing as he would change colours accordingly.

[Ria]

I have made some corrections and add ons to my earlier stuff, [ones I can spot anyway]

Baboons know something we don't.
Baboons move in troops with a higher arc-al structure. At times turn into thugs and go on raids.
So anything you leave out, is fare game.
You could hear a troop nearing the house, the geese would let you know if this could be trouble.
My sister or my father would go out with a gun, [no shots fired] walk around a little, the troop
would disappear and move on. Now my step mother would go out with a gun and they would completely ignore her.
My father and sister new how to shoot, my step mother did not.

[MorningSong]

For some reason I love snails .. yet slugs suck. No shell, no respect. that's just the way it goes ;-)


Hahaha! Funny! I feel the same way!

Here where I live, the dialect word for slugs (shell-less snails) is "sblerch"....the sound of the word pretty much sums it up for me. lol

As a child I spent most of my time out roaming the woodlands and creeks around our neighborhood....would catch crawdads and salamanders just for fun and would watch the grey squirrels for hours on end. I never even once ran into a copperhead or other poisonous/non-poisonous snake like my older brother always did. One of my most precious encounters was with a family of bobwhites (doves) with chicks that crossed right past me as I sat in the sagegrass watching clouds pass over me.

Since I've been here in the Alps, I've had numerous encounters with "faina" ( Martin ferrets) and "tasso" (huge baggers), as well as several kinds of deer. I love it when the eagles/hawks fly over my house. My very most special encounter was with a wolf and it's family. I was out hiking in the woody hills behind my house and I noticed that I wasn't alone. They had been following me for a good while before the leader showed himself on a boulder just up the path I was climbing; we just locked eyes in a deep calm greeting, then he turned and disappeared followed by the sound of the others running through the fallen autumn leaves around me. Needless to say, I high-tailed it back home...an incredible fear, then exultation overcame me when I realized what had just happened.

Life at its best!

[grapevine]

My four domestic cats would be considered tame by most but I sense that this is just a sham for my family's sake and that their 'wildness' is less than one millimetre away. I could spend hours talking about them, their place in my family and how much they've taught us about collective traits and individuality, and how trusting and noble they are. I believe all animals have these characteristics and have much to show and teach us. If I could choose one superpower it would be to be able to talk to animals...

[Corncrake]

TelosianEmbrace - thank you so much for starting such a wonderful soothing thread. Some brilliant stories here. For me, although brought up in the country, I now live in a city but I am lucky enough to be on the edge of two wonderful relatively wild parks - Wimbledon Common and Richmond Park. My favourite time, particularly around this time of year, is dawn and sunset. Sometimes I get up early and walk across the common with a dog watching the sun rise. The ground sparkles with frost and the trees and shrubs rise out of a thick layer of mist while the early rising sun beams out golden light bathing everything in its path in an ethereal beauty. Magical.

[TelosianEmbrace]

TelosianEmbrace - thank you so much for starting such a wonderful soothing thread. Some brilliant stories here. For me, although brought up in the country, I now live in a city but I am lucky enough to be on the edge of two wonderful relatively wild parks - Wimbledon Common and Richmond Park. My favourite time, particularly around this time of year, is dawn and sunset. Sometimes I get up early and walk across the common with a dog watching the sun rise. The ground sparkles with frost and the trees and shrubs rise out of a thick layer of mist while the early rising sun beams out golden light bathing everything in its path in an ethereal beauty. Magical.
For my part, Corncrake, it's an honour to hear such beautiful and touching stories. It highlights, for me, what we are all searching for and what we hope to achieve- peace and harmony, and a oneness with our surroundings. The Earth and all upon her are to be cherished, respected and loved.
I'd just like to share a moment with you, one of the best of my life. I was on a science expedition, trekking into the rainforest of Far North Queensland to collect and identify insects. I had drunk a couple of cans the night before (I was still young and foolish). Our first day out was a steep trek up a mountain side some 900-1000 metres, carrying a heavy pack laden with six days of food and scientific equipment. Half way up I took off one of my gaiters, and a bloated leech, approaching the size of a tennis ball, fell out onto the ground. That afternoon I was simply concentrating on putting one step in front of the other. We made it that evening to a peak called the Devil's Thumb, a knob of granite that juts out over the surrounding forest. I lay down my sleeping gear perched between two of the rounded peaks.
The next morning our group woke and as one we moved to the top of the outcrop. The mist was still blanketing parts of the surrounding forest, but lifting ever so slowly. To the east, out over the ocean, we stood and waited for the sun to rise. Our breathes were balls of mist. The group leader was cleaning his teeth. First the sky was light blue, then shades of pink as eventually the sun rose over the horizon. It was truly a magical moment. Though we were speaking to each other, there was a deep sense of awe and a silence that went with the moment that could not be broken or sullied by our voices.
It is these times that define our existence.

[markoid]

More dolphin interactions... I was walking on the beach with my gf on a pretty wild day, as in rough surf rushing up the steep winter profiled beach, when suddenly 3 dolphins surfed their way right onto the beach...essentially beached themselves for a moment, right next to us. We both looked at each other very puzzled by this behaviour and figured they must have been feeding in this way... until we kept walking and they did this another 3 times about a minute or 2 apart and each time they came up right next to where we were walking... intriguing and lovely experience.
With a captive dolphin.
I was fortunate to know the dolphin trainer at a resort that had 2 dolphins.. 'Speedy' and her mum, 'Buttons'. I had a particularly close bond with Speedy and swam with her every day at dawn. I was making a living doing dolphin art at the time and, sitting beside the pool one day I was talking to friend and commenting how wonderful it was to be able to the study the subtleties of the dolphin form and as I was talking and describing where the body meets the tail fluke, Speedy cruised up, stood on her head so that just the tail fluke was showing above the water and did a slow repeated 360 spin showing exactly the area I was alluding too.. hehe smiles all round :)

[Ria]

I do enjoy this thread and encourage more stories to come forward.
Thank you all for your input.

[TelosianEmbrace]

Lately I have been doing a bit of 'twitching', or as the laymen call it, bird watching. Yesterday I drove to a very secluded spot, and went for a short walk through the Australian bush. This particular spot was rarely walked, with the path meandering through thick bushland beside a stream. The sun was shining, the rosellas were in pairs, burbling merrily to one another, all was good. There was one spot where the action came alive! Little birds tend to move through the undergrowth in groups of species, such as thornbills, scrubwrens and fantails. I stood there, listening to the calls, and noticed a wallaby sitting by the flowing stream in the long, moist green grass, seemingly unaffected by my presence. It reached up with its right foot and gave itself a few firm scratches behind the ear. I pretended like a tree, still, pulling the sap up from the ground, my foliage catching the wind, that sort of thing. And watched. I called back to the rufous whistler in the trees, and it came down to investigate me, and made a few calls of its own to show me how it should be done. Then a white naped honey eater, a rather beautiful bird with a red 'wattle' or patch around its eye, flew right down close, perching on a perpendicular trunk at eye level to get a good look at me.

I had presumed the wallaby knew I was there, but when I started walking again I snapped a twig, and it took off like a rocket, bounding over the stream and up the opposite hillside. A few steps further, and I was greeted with an amazing display! A falcon flitted through the undergrowth on silent wings, chasing a smaller bird. It flew back in a tight arc and perched in a tree about two and a half metres above the ground, just a short way off. These birds are very rarely so comfortable (And still) in a human's presence. It looked at me and I acted like I was agitated, attempting to get it to stay a bit longer so that I could take note of its colours, shape, size and markings.

For me, just a few magical moments like these are worth more than months in an Illuminati limitation generator (Also called 'work').

[CdnSirian]

Whew! Quite the delightful thread! I just took an unscheduled break to read all the wonderful stories. It has completely changed my day!
Here's a couple of my best memories; I ran into a Lynx when walking across a large snowy common by myself when I was small. We looked each other in the eye for a few seconds and it bounded away. I miss the Aurora Borealis and the great plains.
In the mountains I walked into a mother Elk and baby. My younger sister and I were awestruck. Mama casually stepped by and Baby eyeballed us a little, pausing to sniff. Baby was bigger than we were so it wasn't scared.
I haven't been in wild places for a long time. Yet I'm fortunate now that even in the city I found a neighborhood zoned for animals and I am woken up by nearby roosters every morning.
Thanks again all for taking me to so many places on my break! I feel like I've had a vacation.:)

[Lord Sidious]

Whew! Quite the delightful thread! I just took an unscheduled break to read all the wonderful stories. It has completely changed my day!
Here's a couple of my best memories; I ran into a Lynx when walking across a large snowy common by myself when I was small. We looked each other in the eye for a few seconds and it bounded away. I miss the Aurora Borealis and the great plains.
In the mountains I walked into a mother Elk and baby. My younger sister and I were awestruck. Mama casually stepped by and Baby eyeballed us a little, pausing to sniff. Baby was bigger than we were so it wasn't scared.
I haven't been in wild places for a long time. Yet I'm fortunate now that even in the city I found a neighborhood zoned for animals and I am woken up by nearby roosters every morning.
Thanks again all for taking me to so many places on my break! I feel like I've had a vacation.:)

One of my favourite cats, the Lynx.

[CdnSirian]

http://poodlebff.wordpress.com/2011/07/10/information-on-wolves-at-the-classical-ballet-studio-wolf-pictures/

This is about where some wild things have been rescued--these beautiful high-content wolves visit the city to raise money for their keep. The human pack gives a wonderful talk about where they come from, teaches about their adaptations and how they live at their wolf ranch, while the wolves circulate beaming love and interest at their human audience. Their presence is spiritual, reminded me of dolphins. One huge beast plopped his head into the laps of a couple of four year olds and let them tickle his chin and kiss his face for a few minutes.
While one wolf was not quite so cuddly and did not leave her handler, she still posed for photos with human arms around her neck and shyly licked some faces.

If you like wolves, the photos on their site (in the blog post) will warm your heart.

These wolves cannot be adopted out, as they are not quite domesticated. However, the organization adopts humans in, where wolves get a personal supporter.

Monthly hikes with a wolf on a leash can be made, on their ranch which is completely solar powered to save money. Won't they be happy when they get FE!

A program for young people at risk has been organized, where kids from the city can now live full time at the wolf ranch, assigned to wolf care, continuing school, and learning how to give and take love.

Just being near these wolves revealed how well this program could work.

How kind for these wild beings to accommodate us so well, in their dependency. Pics on the link above.

[DeDukshyn]

http://poodlebff.wordpress.com/2011/07/10/information-on-wolves-at-the-classical-ballet-studio-wolf-pictures/

This is about where some wild things have been rescued--these beautiful high-content wolves visit the city to raise money for their keep. The human pack gives a wonderful talk about where they come from, teaches about their adaptations and how they live at their wolf ranch, while the wolves circulate beaming love and interest at their human audience. Their presence is spiritual, reminded me of dolphins. One huge beast plopped his head into the laps of a couple of four year olds and let them tickle his chin and kiss his face for a few minutes.
While one wolf was not quite so cuddly and did not leave her handler, she still posed for photos with human arms around her neck and shyly licked some faces.

If you like wolves, the photos on their site (in the blog post) will warm your heart.

These wolves cannot be adopted out, as they are not quite domesticated. However, the organization adopts humans in, where wolves get a personal supporter.

Monthly hikes with a wolf on a leash can be made, on their ranch which is completely solar powered to save money. Won't they be happy when they get FE!

A program for young people at risk has been organized, where kids from the city can now live full time at the wolf ranch, assigned to wolf care, continuing school, and learning how to give and take love.

Just being near these wolves revealed how well this program could work.

How kind for these wild beings to accommodate us so well, in their dependency. Pics on the link above.

I have a old acquaintance that had a wolf. I was awestruck by its intelligence, respect, and fair judgement. He was able to come into my house and get along well enough with our cat - a very respectable animal. My friend said the main consideration is to allow him to be a "wolf"; he'd do this by going for hour long runs through the woods with him almost daily. Apparently, the respect the wolf has for him starts to diminish if he doesn't keep it up regularly. ;) Truly amazing animals - much more than just a big dog.

[CdnSirian]

More wolves: http://www.classicalballet.com/Wolf%20Visit.htm Just love them!