What do you see?

Just thinking a couple days ago about what we see because we are tree climbers - that other people tend to miss.

I was taking a quick evening "constitutional" in a local aspen woods, looking up and musing about which ones had good limbs - and there was a porcupine. He (or she?) was draped over a limb, head and stomach resting on the branch, having an afternoon nap. Hardly noticed me gawking below; just turned his head a bit (still on the branch) to keep half an eye on that silly human down there. I've been noticing porcupine sign for the last half year or so (one of my students has been studying porc damage in a local forest, and we've both gotten the search image for porcs munching on bark in the winter), but I probably would not have seen that one in the tree if I hadn't been a climber.

Other things I'm a bit more likely to notice because I climb: ice and wind storm damage; large (e.g. eagle or osprey) and small (e.g. squirrel) nests; and when which trees are in bloom.

So, what do you see because you look up more than all those poor benighted "normal" folks?

What Do You See?

The issue here is how differently each of us see things from our lofty perch.

I have, over time, sited a few nearby yet secluded climb locations. By the time I get home from work and get on-rope it is usually early dusk. I find a high perch and just chill-out, overlooking my town from the edge of the woods.

The busses heading back to the suburbs from Manhattan, dropping off their weary passengers. Police and other emergency vehicles zipping down the road. Landscapers and their over-laden equipment trailers headed in for the night. And best of all, people. I can see them in the distance. They never look up. Walking their dog, putting out trash, etc... It’s interesting to be able to observe my very existence from the third party perspective.

Porcupine? No, not in my area.
But it’s still interesting to climb and watch.
MarkF,That was a great post. A stimulating question.
Regards,
Ej

I was best-man in a wedding a week ago at an outdoors wedding. Three minutes after showing up to the wedding site I was admiring a large cedar, and not more than fifteen feet high I spotted a yellow jackets nest larger than a basket ball. We decided to leave the nest unharmed. Nobody was stung during the wedding or reception, but I think the bees ate half the food.

Lucas

One of the places I like to climb is in a small wooded area that is popular with dog walkers. Every once in a while while I'm aloft someone will walk right below the tree I'm in. One guy even looked at my rope dangleing next to the tree and never looked up. It never ceases to amaze and amuse me. Another time I was up in a silver maple next to a creek and I watched a couple of guys checking their muskrat traps along the opposite bank. There's nothing like getting a squirles eye view of the world.

I've told this before in one of my climb reports, but since you asked...

One of the most interesting things I've seen from above was a Little Brown Bat circling my wife's head, eating gnats. She was climbing about 20 feet below me on a separate line. The bat came it from over my right shoulder, passed between my lines and dropped straight down toward my wife. I watched it for about 30 seconds before she saw it. "Why are you so quiet?" she asked as she looked up at me, over her shoulder. Then she saw the bat and immediately descended to the ground! "Why'd you do that?" I asked. She declined to answer.

I hope I will still continue to see LBBs in our favorite tree as the White Nose Syndrome fungus has hit our area quite hard this winter. Bats are dropping by the hundreds. Just one more reason I feel lucky to have witnessed this event. Appreciate what you have folks 'Cause it might, someday, be gone.