#;nature

[devonia]

Horseshoe Crabs I

I didn't realize how much I'd miss the ocean until I moved here. The beach was never my favorite place -I actually hated going as a teenager- but now that I live in eastern Montana I miss it dearly. The sand there is unpleasant, the water cold, and the lack of shade downright dangerous. But those things aren't what comes to mind now.

Now I remember the way the horseshoe crabs swam in the shallow surf. I remember their strange, otherworldly bodies. The people I'm with, people who made my life miserable, disappear when I see those strange little earthlings scuttling through the sea.

I miss them. I want to stand in the cold, salty water of Cape Cod and see the horseshoe crabs again. I want to feel small in the presence of a creature that has been native to the oceans of our planet for over 400 million years. I want to know that, in the many eyes of Limulus polyphemus, I am irrelevant to the great timeline of Earth.

[focusfreely]

Into the Canadian Woods

[devonia]

Went to Yellowstone and it was fucking awesome as always. I have tons of pictures to post over the next couple weeks.

[devonia]

Makoshika

[devonia]

72 dangerous animals is great but i want a show called 72 sweetest animals that is exactly the opposite. basically you rank animals based on how sweet they are --friendly, gentle, etc. and you have a big disclaimer that tells people to leave them alone so we still have them later. number one is a bearded dragon

[devonia]

Best date idea

Looking for toads and salamanders in the creek near my house as part of a greater herpetofauna survey to enhance our knowledge of species richness in Eastern Montana and aid in conservation efforts for threatened populations of native amphibians

[devonia]

Critters 1

I say I love animals, and it's true, but what I really love are critters. Few things are more precious than a baby rabbit huddling beneath a thick sagebrush. Few things capture my heart like a fat, lone toad, protecting itself from the cruel summer heat in a puddle of slick mud.

I love the soft whisks of chipmunks in the grass, the pulse-pounding beat of a nervous rattlesnake, the near-silent patter of bat wings in the night. I love horse hoovesteps and owl calls and the quiet nobility of bison, but the scuttle of a lizard over shattered sandstone boulders is in my heart and soul like nothing else.

The small things, the overlooked things, the stepping stones of much greater ecological machines, are my everything.