Eye of the Beholder

Late August delivers no end of subjects guaranteed to get a fellow contemplating the wonders of nature.

We understand that frog populations are declining in North America but you wouldn’t know it from the spectacle on display in recent days at Dalem Lake. Along the grass road bordering the lake we have to step carefully to avoid trampling the dozens of young pickerel frogs making their first explorations of the world at large. At this stage in their life history they are small—not much bigger than my thumbnail from snout to butt—but they make up in quickness what they lack in size. Not one of them is inclined to accommodate somebody looking for close-up photo opportunity. In Canada this frog is a strictly eastern species. They like the habitat opportunities on offer in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the southern reaches of Quebec and Ontario, but western Canadians are deprived.

They are not the only frog we see on our Dalem excursions. Just as nimble as young pickerels, the wood frog is distinguished by its attractive tan colour and by a feature—a black face mask—that inclines some folks to call it the ‘robber frog’. Both frog species are cosmopolitan diners. The cabin’s copy of Amphibians and Reptiles of Nova Scotia lists 49 lifeforms pickerel frogs find comestible enough to include in their menu, everything from sowbugs, centipedes and spiders to stink bugs, spittlebugs and slugs.

A third kind of amphibian we see in our wanderings, Bufo americanus americanus, the eastern American toad, is not remarkable for its swiftness: closeup portraiture is much easier to accomplish. Some folks consider the toad an icon of ugliness, an opinion I do not share. I count myself lucky each time circumstance affords opportunity for communion with a fellow traveler I invariably find unhurried, congenial, relaxed—all traits it would do me well to emulate.

Ugliness is of course not a fixed notion. While I might be inclined to see Donald Trump as the acme of unattractiveness, others are inclined to see ugliness in bugs or snakes or centipedes.

Take caterpillars for example. Did you know that all caterpillars are the young of butterflies and moths? We don’t have to go all the way to Dalem to see caterpillars en route to becoming red admirals, swallowtails or fritillaries. We can just step out the cabin door and look down to find an array of creatures wearing multi-coloured coats, bedecked with horns, spines and bristles. Studying a caterpillar at close range I can’t help wondering, by what magic is a caterpillar transformed into a butterfly? Why all the spikes and spines? Well, in some cases the adornments are defensive: they are toxic or distasteful to a predator that might otherwise make a meal out of the caterpillar.

Get nose to nose with a katydid and you might be inclined to think its face is as ugly as ugly gets, perhaps as hideous as the out-of-this-world monster in Ridley Scott’s sci-fi epic Alien. For me, a katydid’s face is merely fascinating. What do all those strange-looking bits do? By what means did this become the ideal design for going about the business of being a katydid?

Late August is a fine time of year to appreciate the diversity of spiders nature provides for close inspection. Orb weavers in the genus Araneus are the arachnids of choice just now at Bigadore. Take a close look at the face of one, make believe the creature is as big as a human and, sure, it is easy to imagine oneself being scared spitless. Fortunately, orb weavers are not as big as Mike Tyson in his pugnacious prime: it is safe to take a close look and marvel at another aspect of nature’s complexity.

Whilst appreciating the wonders on display just outside the cabin door there other rewards, incontestably attractive ones. The blueberry crop by the spider’s web is at its peak. Pause from spider appreciation to savour the blueberry bounty free for the grabbing. Go up the road a short distance to harvest the chanterelle mushrooms currently crowding one of our trails. Carry on a bit further still and mine the blackberry crop just about to reach its best-before pinnacle.

Spiders, katydids, caterpillars . . . blueberries, blackberries, chanterelles . . . all this and I haven’t even begun to mention birds and the early days of fall migration . . .