There is nothing that nature does not astonish us. Spending time outside is like a body and mind therapy to many individuals. The wind, the freshness which the trees can fill our lungs with and the beautiful coloring is a phenomenal experience which helps us to relax and take power to continue with the rest of the week. It is quite possible that nature, whether in the form of a common stroll through the landscape or just sitting under a tree and hearing the sounds of birds, is a very subtle but efficient form of bringing down to earth.
Kym Beechey is an Australian woman, who is deeply in love with nature, and she is well aware of this connection. She enjoys being in nature as much as possible and never ceases to notice the little things wild nature has to offer. She is usually ready to capture these transitory, beautiful moments with her phone and share them: she is giving other people an idea of how magical her life can sometimes be.
Then one day as she was wandering through the forest, Kym saw beside the branches what she thought was a baby tawny frogmouth nestling. These birds are miss-identified as owls because of their camouflaged feathers and wide-set eyes and they are nocturnal birds who are quite famous inside woods since they hide amongst the tree barks. The scene appeared to me as a golden opportunity- a cute, big-fluffy animal lying peacefully in its habitat.
Desperate with her discovery, Kym rushed and captured an image using her phone camera. She was surprised but when she zoomed to get a closer look. Something other than what she believed was a young bird turned out to be and it is the banksia pod. These are characteristic seed pods that grow on banksia trees which made a household name to the Australians due to the rough surfaces and wood finish that can be turned at an end in whimsical and even comic looks. At a glance they may resemble pine cones, but the more you examine them the more you realize how different they actually are.
Banksia trees are found in native Australia and more specifically in the Southwest of it as well as some parts of New Zealand and Papa New Guinea. Their seed pods can be called an interesting element of nature. These pods are built to survive in the most harsh conditions of their environment and are sealed so that it is finally broken open when the pods are exposed to the intense heat of bushfires a condition at which they finally break open and release their seeds, which is a survival strategy that guarantees some growth after fire as a way of regeneration on earth.
Kym understood her mistake, but immediately started laughing. The rare wildlife sighting she thought she saw was nothing short but a quirky manipulation of the design of nature. She took the decision to share the picture on the internet without any reservations, to invite people to participate in the game of nature and critic some of its magic, to have a laugh at being temporarily tricked by it.
It is served as a soft reminder that not all things in nature are what they appear to be. Even a mistake sometimes could make a person joyous, make a person smile and be thankful that there is a world around. Had this wee stratagem of nature cheated you also?