Why am I pulling into the same parking area of the same woods at the same time of day to walk the same trail and see the same things?

A familiar question on a familiar day. I shrug it off and go for a walk. It’s what I do. If I didn’t, I’d be somebody else.

I see a sparrow and figure it’s not worth a second look. But I focus the binoculars on it anyway. And, hey, there’s some unexpected white and yellow. It’s a White-throated Sparrow.

Nothing rare, but not an everyday bird. Kinda cool.

Moving on, I notice there’s some new coyote scat on the trail.

Scat’s an academic word. A coyote researcher I knew talked about it a lot. He had the improbable name, “Wiley.” As in “Wile E. Coyote” from the Roadrunner cartoons.

I’m smiling about this name as I move on. And the thought hits: You never walk in the same woods twice.

This is a spin-off of the famous line, “You can’t step into the same river twice,” by the Greek philosopher, Heraclitus.

I’m no scholar, but I do like Heraclitus. He was bummed out about the unstoppable passage of time. Some people call him the “weeping philosopher.”

As I walk, I’m thinking about how the “same river twice” idea extends to the “same woods twice” insight that I just stumbled upon while circling coyote shit.

I soon get interested in a Red-tailed Hawk above me, and have the thought that he’s probably the same hawk I see every time I’m here. It’s his territory.

Maybe he sees me, and thinks: “There’s that guy again, it’s his territory.” I smile. Better believe it pal, this is my territory. Never had that thought before. Something new in the woods.

I see a couple of crows. They’re smart, and I wondered if they were also watching me like a hawk. Maybe today’s bird-watching excursion was a two-way street.

Maybe it always is. Maybe the White-throated Sparrow was looking at this scruffy, army-jacket bum out of the corner of his eye, thinking, “Him again.”

Anyway, I’m having an okay time. The trail is familiar. The air’s bracing. The exercise is working out the kinks. The woods are sort of the same, and sort of different. As always.

~        ~         ~

If the above rings familiar, well what a memory you have. A similar report appeared here more than 14 years ago. After all that time, we’re still hitting the same woods twice, so it seems worth sharing with you twice.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 17th, 2025 at 10:22 am and is filed under "Daily Sightings" A Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.