Sea Lilies

One of the things I love about creek walking is being able to find fossils. My eyes are constantly scanning the rocks for unusual shapes or patterns that may reveal a fossil. Finding and touching a fossil to me is like touching a piece of history. As a Bible believing Christian, I believe in creation and the world-wide flood. As such, I believe that fossils are only a little over 4000 years old, not millions of years.

One of the fossils I most often find by my creek is the crinoid or sea-lily. Though I’ve never found a whole specimen, I have founds hundreds of pieces of the stems. Some are mere fragments, some are longer pieces, but finding even a tiny piece makes me feel like a child again… excited about finding a treasure.

Crinoids are part of a large group of marine invertebrate animals called echinoderms. Other echinoderms are starfish, brittle stars, sand dollars, and sea urchins. Crinoids are unusual looking animals because they look more like plants than animals, hence the name “sea lilies”. They remain attached to the seafloor while they spread their arms to catch plankton from the seawater. The most common and easily recognized part of the fossil crinoid is the columnals that make up the stem or stalk. Today there are still some living relatives of the fossil crinoids living in the deep ocean.

Inside skeleton of crinoid

Many different sizes of crinoids

 

 Other fossils I have also found near my creek:

Some links to sites about fossils:
Paleontology Portal
Answers in Genesis

Two Day Roller Coaster Ride of Spring

Male Cardinal

Friday morning I woke up to a thin layer of ice covering many surfaces. Freezing rain continued to drizzle throughout the morning and small icicles formed on the bird feeder. The porch surface was slick as I went out to fill the feeder with seeds. Soon after, a variety of birds started appearing and the five cups of seeds disappeared remarkably fast. There was some bickering, a few fights, a bunch of shoving seeds over the edge, but the picky eaters all seemed to find some seeds to their liking.

Carolina Chickadee

Chickadees:
- Have fabulous memories. They can hide thousands of food items in different locations and are able to return later and remember where nearly all of them are.
- They are cavity nesters. They  use old woodpecker holes or excavate their own cavities in rotted or soft wood.
- Various calls of the Carolina Chickadee

Female Cardinal

Cardinals:
- Are fiercely defensive of their nests, and are even known to spend hours fighting their own reflection in the belief that they are fighting off an intruder.
- During the courtship process, male Cardinals are known to exhibit affection toward females by feeding her beak-to-beak.
- Various calls of the Cardinal.

Purple finch

Purple Finch:
- Is a bird of the northern coniferous forests that visits Tennessee only in the winter.
- The Purple Finch uses its big beak and tongue to crush seeds and extract the nut. They do a similar trick to get at nectar without eating an entire flower, and also to get to a seed buried inside a fleshy fruit.
- Various calls of the Purple Finch.
 

Our peach tree

Then on Saturday the weather warmed up to the 50s. Our peach tree seems to have forgotten to read the memo that winter is not quite over and has started blooming and producing tiny leaves. Since the weather was a bit warmer, I spent time exploring along the creek and noticed tender green shoots pushing up through the dead leaves on the forest floor. Little by little spring is creeping into the land.


 

In the evening I stood near the creek and listened to the forest get ready for bed. The cool night air settled down and enveloped me, and I watched as the vapor from my breath danced and swirled on the evening breeze. A great blue heron flew silently by. Dry leaves rustled with a passing puff of air and Mourning doves sang their bedtime lullabies. Chickadees twittered quietly as they settled down for the night. As it grew dark, two Canadian geese glided in towards the pond. I think this is the first time I have seen them back. Though it was peaceful to listen and watch as night crept in and pushed the last rays of sun over the horizon, it also got increasingly cold. So, reluctantly, I turned towards the softly glowing windows of the house and went in to get some hot chocolate.

Snapshot of a Famous Naturalist

{Photo from pbs.org}

 Today I thought I'd introduce you to a famous naturalist who has been called the "patron saint of the American wilderness." John Muir was born in Scotland in 1838 and his family emigrated to the United States when he was 11 years old. He became one of America's most famous and influential naturalists and conservationists. He taught the people of his time the importance of experiencing and protecting our natural heritage. 

When he was still young, John's father made him memorized three-fourths of the Old Testament and all of the New Testament. Because of his strong religious background, much of his writings are laced with Scripture and praise to God. John's ability to memorize so much Scripture and incorporate it into his writings is an inspiration to me. I would love to be able to memorize that much Scripture!

Here are just a few excerpts from his writings:

• "In every walk in nature one receives far more than he seeks."
• "Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer. Camp out among the grasses and gentians of glacial meadows, in craggy garden nooks full of nature's darlings. Climb the mountains and get their good tidings, Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. As age comes on, one source of enjoyment after another is closed, but nature's sources never fail." (Our National Parks, 1901)
•  "Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life." (Our National Parks, 1901)
• "Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul" (The Yosemite)
•  "No synonym for God is so perfect as Beauty. Whether as seen carving the lines of the mountains with glaciers, or gathering matter into stars, or planning the movements of water, or gardening - still all is Beauty! "

John Muir published over 300 articles and 12 books. Here you can find the complete text of each of his books, as well as some of his articles (for FREE!)