For the past weeks
I have been looking up - up into the trees and up into the skyline, gazing
above from the ground into the endless blue abyss. Seeing the world like this almost goes
against human nature. To orient one’s eyes horizontally or down towards the
ground is more natural for humans.
Generally, it can be argued, we orients our eyes for one of two reasons:
to observe a destination, so that we might move toward it or away
from it; or to observe and reflect on what the eyes are seeing. This anthropocentric idea I pondered brought
to mind that most animals are aware of their surroundings in a similar manner,
and can both see and avoid if necessary what is around them. But humans are not
only able to do this but also consciously reflect and think more deeply on what
they are observing. I found myself spending time in Salisbury University’s
alumni garden due to the latter of the two reasons, reflecting on the natural
history of this location.
With
this practice of altered perception I focused on the wildlife in the area. Everything from the birds, to the mammals, to
the plant life in the garden captured my attention. The movements of birds and
squirrels, as well as the colors of the plants and trees popping out and
changing as one season slowly transitioned into another, defined my experience
here. I picked a particular spot in the
garden to spend time in. I found it helped me connect with the area more by cultivating
familiarity with this spot. One of my
first impressions of this garden was how a hummingbird flew across my field of
vision as it was leaving from its feeding. This was strange because I had never
really encountered a hummingbird before. Since then this bird has not
reappeared. Still, I have witnessed a multitude of natural processes in this
garden that humans are surrounded by everyday yet think nothing of. For instance, a spider crawled across the
grass in front of me as I lay on my stomach looking up from the grass to the
sky. What was this spider’s destination? What did it think of me? Was it
registering me the same way, or at all, as I was registering it? I could see the underside of this spider as
it passed in front of me, which is a view that not many people would think
twice about. The fluid motion of the spider as it crossed from one blade of
grass to the next was something that I had not really thought of before as
beautiful but the longer I watched it the more I found this simple action
pleasing to the eye. Finding the beauty in a simple action of something
seemingly insignificant helped me to better form a connection with the garden
that I did not have before.
The
changing of the seasons moved me over the time of my visits, the shift in
colors as the summer changed from fall to winter. The shift of seasons got me
thinking about seasonal ecology and how and why wildlife reacts to the slowing
down of most if not all of the natural processes that occur in the garden. How severely are the human interactions involved
in tending to the garden affecting the natural processes of wildlife in the
area? Are the pollinators and insects staying longer because there are
non-native species of plants being planted? And would this shift cause
population changes to occur as more would seem to die when the frost occurs? The
shift In seasons really got my mind racing about all of these questions and it
got me to think and reflect a little bit deeper on this garden, especially how
humans could possibly be affecting natural processes of this half man made,
half natural ecosystem.
Seeing
this garden from a different perspective allowed for me to think about the
natural world in a way that I did not find myself while looking down upon it
with my eyes oriented horizontally at standing height. This shift in my visual
perception of the garden had me routinely reflecting on everyday processes that
myself or others would have ignored otherwise.
Mostly what I had observed were birds flying across the sky, migrating
as the seasons changed, or roosting and feeding in the canopy of the trees
across the skyline. A murmuration of
starlings (Maryland Ornithological Society), about 300 strong, flew one day
into my upward field of vision above the alumni garden and landed on the trees.
Why did the flock choose to land here at the garden during their daily travels? While they were flying, this large group of
birds seemed to fly so close together that collectively they appeared to be a
black blob in the midst of the blue sky.
How was it that during the ever-changing shapes and abstract forms that
they were flying in, not one single bird managed to collide with another? I
could only imagine how hectic it would be to be a part of that flock but then I
think to myself how it must be second nature to them. After looking deeper into this question I
discovered that I am not alone in this thinking. They are able to move in these
ever-changing shapes so quickly due to a phenomenon known as scale-free
correlation. (Alfano) When one bird changes its velocity or direction, every
other bird in the flock responds by changing direction or speed as well. When
this happens constantly it results in the birds of a flock moving in an
abstract yet fluid motion with one another. In addition to the birds moving
around the area squirrels during this seasonal change become more active as
they were frantically scrambling around the area to prepare food for the winter
during this change as well. Scrambling
from canopy to the ground, these mammals were collecting acorns and nuts to
bury underground. Dispersing seeds left and right, these squirrels are
unintentionally planting future generations of trees. Maybe one day in the very
far future, when the school is no longer here this garden could be a plot of
hardwood trees that ended up here as a result of the squirrels burying seeds in
the ground.
Looking
both across and down on the garden offered a viewpoint on all of the life on
the ground, not just that soaring above me. What I focused on mostly was the
plant life in the garden. Mainly I was captivated by the changes in color and
foliage as the seasons shifted to colder weather. While the trees were changing in color the
plants seemed to fade to a dull withered tone that people seem to connect with
in the winter. Why is it that humans
connect so emotionally to nature and can be so easily affected by a change in
color and tone of the natural world? As the fall daylight gets shorter the trees
slow their “food making” process and the chlorophyll starts to break down in
the leaves causing the reds, and yellows, and oranges to become visible. (Palm) Could seasonal depression in the fall
possibly be as a result of a subconscious connection to the natural world and
the feeling people get from this time of year could be a result of this subtle
connection with this slowly dying ecosystem? Also could the decreased amount of
light due to shorter days play a factor in seasonal emotional slumps? The
decease in the amount of daily sunlight, which has a direct correlation to a
release of serotonin, a hormone in the brain that is responsible for boosting
ones mood, could be a cause for this seasonal depression because the decreased
sunlight exposure means a decrease in the amount of serotonin released within
someone. (Nall) About half way through the semester the horticulture department
began to take out some of the withered flowers and replace them with mums (Chrysanthemum). This changed the tone of
the garden because the brightening of the garden seemed to breath new life into
the venue. These new colors changed how I viewed the area because along with
the leaves changing from their typical green they started to burst out with
reds and yellows that complimented the colors of the mums very well in this
transitional fall season. I began to
think how these changes in colors would affect the behavior of the wildlife.
Would insects, pollinators, or mammals be attracted to these non-native plants
that they would not normally be attracted to, simply because of the color
during this time of year?
My
time at the alumni garden has changed the way that I see and understand the
natural world around me. This place and its creatures have taught me to be more
observant of everything around me and to reflect on what I see, rather than to
just glance at the world around me without registering and reflecting more
deeply upon everything that is going on.
Looking at my surrounding environment through the lens of the world seen
from above me has allowed me to reflect on natural processes in a more
intricate way and has allowed me to not only understand something as simple as
a garden in greater detail, but usually also left me wanting to question and
understand more deeply what happens here and why.
Tim Bender
Works Cited
“Annually Occuring Species in MD.” Maryland Ornithological Society. 4/1/1996. October 20, 2015. http://www.mdbirds.org/birds/mdbirds/seasonal/annoccur.html
Alfano, A. (2013) How Do Starling Flocks Create Those
Mesmerizing Mumurations? All About Birds. 2/21/13. December 6,
2015.
Bowman, E. (2015). The LAWN Garden. Horticulture. 112(4), 38-43.
Holden, C. (2005). Where
the Bees Are. Science. 309 (5743), 1986-1986.
Kreyling, J. (2010).
Winter climate change: a critical factor for temperate vegetation performance. Ecology. 91(7), 1939-1948.
Nall, R. (2015). Sunlight and Serotonin. What Are The Benefits of Sunlight? 11/9/2015.
December 6, 2015.
Nicole, W. (2015). Pollinator Power. Environmental Health Perspectives. 123(8), A210-A215.
Palm, C. (2015) Why Do The Leaves Change Color. SUNY-Environmental
Science and Forestry.
December 6,2015.
Stokes, L. (2007).
Our Bird Garden. Birder’s World. 21(4),
20-23.
It's interesting to see how the same site - the alumni garden - inspired diverging yet complementary approaches to natural history in your and Jake's entries. Your approach emphasizes the questions that are provoked when someone who has studied how ecosystems function takes a second look (both literally and metaphorically) at an ordinary garden. I like very much how cultural and ecological values both come to the fore in your account.
ReplyDeleteGreat read Tim!
ReplyDeleteFunny how similar and relatable our experiences in pretty different garden seem . I too had endless questions come to mind with the change of seasons . Questions that were not answered in my looking up or down, but instead became more complicated. I instead found clarity in seeking to understand/uncomplicate these theories by finding connections- to help better understand encountered natural phenomenons...Seems you have too!
What is so wonderful about your piece Tim is your how your new view of the natural world from a change in viewpoint includes both physical and metaphysical contemplations. For example, when you described the "spider" and wondered "what it thought about you" you managed to capture the idea that the spider has an awareness of the rest of the world around it without anthropomorphizing it with human contemplations. On the physical world you talked about how humans effect population dynamics at the garden and this speaks to the idea that we are linked natural systems and the roles we play effect the rest of the world.
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