I took a walk in the field just to enjoy the tall Indian
Grass stalks. During the next few months
the dried stalks will disappear as their bases decompose and the dead grass
falls to the ground. Once they are down,
the stalks quickly decompose and provide nutrients for new growth. The transformation from dead growth to living
is an unobtrusive process that leaves you wondering where all of that dead
material went.
Despite a regular schedule of rain and wind storms, the Indian
Grass has remained upright all winter. A
cold wind, combined with grass talks whipping my face, makes the walk a little
less comfortable. That turbulence is
just a surface event. Down in the grass,
the wind remains calm and the environment is much more comfortable.
A small cedar hidden in the tall grass has been a roost site
for some small bird. The Indian Grass
fields always contain a variety of birds.
Occasionally they’ll utilize a small shrub as a night time location, but
more typically they’ll just find a convenient spot down in the grass. I stopped taking nighttime walks through the
Indian Grass long ago. I felt bad about
spooking the birds from their overnight roosts.
The most obvious sign of wildlife in the Indian Grass is the
network of deer trails that criss-cross in all directions. The deer create the trails, but all wandering
wildlife species seem to utilize them.
Some trails have remained in place for several years, while others are
created and abandoned seasonally. They
sometimes remind me of a county and township road system.
Deer beds are located throughout the field. These beds are located a little distance off
the trails. This is likely a strategy to
avoid detection by predators that may find the trails to be a convenient way to
travel the fields. Most beds are located
on the slopes or ridgetops where the ground is more likely to be dry. A deer bedded down in the Indian Grass can
avoid visual detection, be protected from the wind and benefit by the
insulating ability of the grass stalks.
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