Nature Continues to Blow Me Away

Let me preface this section by freely admitting that Guinea Hens are not my favorite bird.  They are not terribly friendly, not terribly attractive, and they rank in the Top Five Loudest Birds on Earth, if there is such a list.

Having said all that, let me continue.

Guinea Fowl are native to South Africa, if memory serves me, but there is a subspecies which was introduced to various countries, including the U.S., many decades ago, and it is that subspecies which I speak of now.

The goat farm, owned by Bev’s son and his wife, and where I have spent many a day walking with Maggie, has, conservatively, twenty peacocks and peahens.  It also has goats, of course, possibly seventy-five in number, maybe four-dozen chickens, no partridge in a pear tree, but perhaps twenty of the aforementioned Guinea fowl.  As I mentioned with some passion earlier, they are annoying birds at best, constantly emitting a piercing, shrieking, altogether blood-curdling screech.  They are voracious eaters, oftentimes stealing the chicken food when they are not scavenging among the goat poop for a gourmet meal.

Maggie, in fact, trained and honed her herding skills on the Guinea Fowl, learning to shoo them away from the chicken coop, without hurting them, of course.

Enough of the preface . . . let’s get to the meat of this story.

As it turns out, the screeching which shatters my serenity is actually a warning sign that there is an invader on the property, albeit a stray dog, a coyote, an eagle, or a human being.  As it turns outs, Guinea Fowl are Nature’s Watchdogs . . . err . . . Watchbirds.

Now, that is cool enough, but it turns out this story is much, much cooler than just that.  It seems that other animals understand the warning signal of the screech. Every single time those birds announce an intruder on the acreage, the dogs go into instant alert mode, look in the direction of the birds, and start barking. The horses raise their heads and look in the same direction.  The chicken literally scamper away from the direction of the announced intruder. It’s as though all of Nature has this secret language only animals are privy to, and all of Nature understands that when the Guinea Fowl speak, there’s a damned good reason for them speaking.

Color me impressed.

Another topic . . .

Did you know that dragonflies are older than dinosaurs?

Did you know that dragonflies mate while flying? I mean come on, guys, you have to be impressed.

Color me in awe. That’s some serious aerial stunt-flying if you ask me.

Now I’ve got you curious, don’t I? Next time you see one of them you are going to be watching closely, aren’t you?  Admit it, it’s okay, you are among friends here. 😊

Are you a parent of a young child? Grandparent?  Here’s a tip for you, free of charge.

A long time ago, in a far-off solar system, I was once a science teacher.  One of the most meaningful activities I had was to have young students scoop up some dirt, bring it inside, and look at that dirt through a microscope.  They were blown away by the amount of life they saw in that dirt they always took for granted.  You might be blown away as well.  Get yourself a good microscope; it’s worth the investment.  Or, if you are a skies kind of person, buy a good telescope for your kids or grandkids.  I promise, this might be the best present you ever gave them, well worth the investment.

Live near the beach? Take them to a tidal pool and let them explore.  The forest? Show them a nurse log and explain to them the regeneration, death to life, at work daily in a healthy forest.

Want to really impress them? Work with them to build a wind turbine.  You can buy a wind generator for a couple hundred dollars, a much better investment, in their future, than a new Nintendo.

That’s all I’ve got.   There are wonders out there, and you don’t need to take a long trip to see them.

Happy Trails to you all.