Tapas

 9:00 to 9:40am, 51 Degrees, Cloudy/Drizzle/Rain, Wind 12mph S, Bar 29.87 fall

Tapas: the Sanskrit word for heat. I yoga's ethical guides, The Yamas and Niyamas, Tapas means self discipline. Leaves coming down as consistently  as a gentle snow. Motion calling my eyes to see if it was my more than human friends. As I sat in the wind and rain, I thought about discipline. Consistent practice. Frequent practice. Practice makes progress! 

Some birds were chatty today. The Black-capped Chickadees were about and boisterous as always. A couple of Blue Jays came in. No doubt looking for peanuts. I had been bringing a handful of peanuts down for my sits. They will grab peanuts when I am there but not eat at the feeder. Today the one pictured above, let out a bunch of calls right above me. Was my friend saying that dude forgot the peanuts! Loudly so all the creatures in The Little Forrest would know. Or was it something else. It shall remain a mystery. 

As the rain increased, I was thinking of why I am doing the practice of sitting. Just sitting in a forrest being has health benefits: physical and mental. There is that. Also, It is my home project for KSMOL level 2. I wish to tell the story of The Little Forrest. It has become more than just that project. I am excited to see what comes next. The seasons change. I do not really enjoy the cold, however I am looking forward to seeing what happens in the winter. 

Merlin Identified 10 species. I saw 3. Merlin showed Cedar Waxwing for the first time in weeks. I had thought they had gone for the winter. Maybe a few stick around. More will be revealled.

Fall

 2:30 to 3:30 pm, 59 Degrees, Clear Skies, Wind 10mph NNW, Bar 30.15 even

It is definitely fall in the Fall Brook Valley. It is that time of year. Clear and cool. The leaves are falling. It is easier to see into The Little Forrest. I am not sure what the gusts were. I could feel the wind down by the brook. The brook sits about twenty feet below the north and west rims of the valley. The condominiums on the west are another thirty feet above that. Wind does not come down to the floor often.  today most of the motion was from wind and the leaves falling. 

The only real bird highlight was a Red-bellied Woodpecker giving loud clear calls above my head. I wish I could have found it. Their heads are such a wonderful bright red. The wind kept most of my more than human friends in their quiet spots. Mostly I sat with the wind.

Merlin Identified 9 species. I saw 5 of those. I also saw White-breasted Nuthatch and Goldfinches. With the wind Merlin does not pick up as much. 

If A Tree Falls...

 8:30 to 10:00am, 48 Degrees, Cloudy, Wind 5mph NW, Bar 29.75 even

If a tree falls in The Little Forrest it makes a lot of noise! A tree fell during my sit. In grade school there was some philosophical debate. If a tree falls in the forrest and there is no one there to hear it, does it make a noise? Having spent time in The Little Forrest these past few months, I think, what a ridiculous debate. Only someone totally removed from nature would think of such a thing. It is so human centric. Our more than human friends are always there. And they hear! There is no hermetically sealed forrest without them. Nature abhors a vacuum. 

It was an interesting experience. Yes, it made noise. A good bit for sure. The tree was partly down and covered in vines. A wall of green just across Fall Brook from where I sit. I swiveled around to see the tree and what happened. I was amazed by the amount of bird activity. Many birds flying up and away from the tree on the ground. I do not know what kind as they were in silhouette. Or how many. When you add in the bird chatter, it is hard to estimate. Certainly, more than a hundred. Five hundred is believable. A thousand seems a stretch. The bird chatter went on for about five minutes. Before it returned to todays baseline. 

The birds were active and visible today. The past two days not so much. I am not so in tune with The Little Forrest that I can discern what is different. The only way to get in tune more is time in The Little Forrest. Practice makes progress. There was a five minute period where the birds were quiet. I, and Merlin, heard a Red Tailed Hawk. It was loud, close. Then back to todays baseline. At one point, I thought a Carolina Wren sounded funny. I looked at Merlin and saw Marsh Wren. Unlikely in Portland Today. Was it there? I do not know. Probably, is my guess. 

Merlin Identified 22 species. I saw 12. Herring Gull and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker were not on the Merlin list. I saw a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. My bird of the day. 

What other philososphical debates seem silly after sitting in nature long enough?

Red-Breasted Nuthatch

 Red-breasted Nuthatch October 2026. In Maine they are known as Lobster-breasted Nuthatches. 

Dark and Dreary

 7:30 to 8:40am, 45 Degrees, Cloudy Skies, Wind 9mph ENE, Bar 30.11 rise

Really not much visible bird activity. I did not see one bird hit the feeder at Number 2! Usually, it has a fair amount of activity. It is going to rain today. I kind of expected there to be some good activity down in The Little Forrest. I think the first bird I saw was a seagull flying over the canopy. The seagull was probably thirty minutes in to my sit. 

There were some birds that I heard. Despite the listed wind, it was quite still down by Fall Brook. I was definitely sitting with stillness. I was not swiveling to look at my more than human friends. Siting with stillness. I could hear the Carolina Wrens singing. It is my favorite song of The Little Forrest. Well, one of my favorites. Some Black-capped Chickadees came in to the feeder at about forty-five minutes. A couple of White-throated Sparrows. That was about it. The Red-breasted Nuthatch above was on my walk out. What a gift! In Maine we know they are really Lobster-breasted Nuthatches. 

Merlin identified 25 species. I saw 4. One was a seagull that Merlin did not "hear." Black Scoter and Hooded Merganser are red dots. Not there. The rest were probably there just hiding. 

About Yesterday

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Ruby-crowned Kinglet

 Ruby-crowned Kinglet October 2026