Unseen stories are unfolding all around us

The Albany Pine Bush is one of the best remaining inland pitch-pine scrub oak barrens in the world. It is a truly unique place right here in the Capital District. Through this column, I hope to transport you for at least a short time to the Pine Bush to experience some of the seasonal happenings, active projects, and musings of this environmental educator.

Recently, I have been reminded that so much goes on in nature that we never see. If we don’t look closely enough, we miss so much of what is going on around us.

In January, a coworker showed me a spot just in front of the Discovery Center building where a small creature, perhaps a meadow vole, had created a tangled web of tracks and tunnels in the snow. To look at this path, you might think that this had to be the work of a lost or impaired animal.

If you let your mind wander, you might start to consider other animals and then the possibility emerges that this is a path of pursuit. What if there were two voles, not one or a vole being stalked by another animal?

These creatures have, of course, moved on or tunneled down out of sight so we will never know their real story but, if you stand, observe, listen and wonder, you might start to unravel the story.

Take a dead tree in the Pine Bush. On first approach, it seems lifeless and unimportant. Look closer and imagine what animals might visit this tree.

Dead trees are very important as shelter for small mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and birds. Think even smaller. Insects! Underneath the bark, dead trees are crawling with insects.

Many of these insects will aid in the eventual decomposition of the tree. Trees like all living things die but the process of decomposition returns those nutrients to the soil, encouraging the growth of new trees and other plants.  In the meantime, these insects are a very important food source for many other Pine Bush animals.

Stare at the sand that you are walking on. By this time, you are aware that sand is not just sand. There are plants growing out of this sand and you are actually seeing only a portion of the plants.

Many Pine Bush plants have very deep root systems. Big blue stem, a tall native grass in the Pine Bush, can grow to grow four to eight feet tall. The roots of this plant can grow to be that same length underground! You might be seeing only half of the grass.

An eastern hognose snake could be buried under a layer of sand. Startled, it would perhaps rear its head, like a cobra and then eventually it might change course, mimicking the opossum and play dead.

Deeper down beyond sight could be a spadefoot toad. As the name suggests, these toads have spade-shaped hind feet ideal for digging. They spend most of their time underground not emerging for weeks or even months at a time in dry periods.

On the side of the trail you may notice small pits in the sand. At the bottom of this pit ,just under the sand, the antlion is waiting, jaws ready for a small insect to fall in and become its next meal.

Tracks, too, may cover the sand, telling stories of fox, coyote, deer, and people all walking through the Pine Bush. We aren’t able to observe them all in action but, if we walk, stand still and observe, taking it all in, we just might start to see the things we previously never noticed.

As we enter spring and things thaw and awaken, I encourage you to get out in the Pine Bush and look for tunnels, holes, tracks, dead trees full of life, and all the hidden stories happening around you.

If you want more information about the Albany Pine Bush Preserve or the Discovery Center go to our website at www.AlbanyPineBush.org, call (518) 456-0655, or visit the Discovery Center at 195 New Karner Road in Albany.