Nature will never cease to amaze. To most individuals, being outdoors is their body and soul therapy. The wind, the fresh that makes our lungs breath, the perfect colors create a jaw-dropping atmosphere, which helps us get a good rest and collect energy that we will need throughout the week. It may be as much as a walk in the woods, or as little as sitting under a tree listening to the sound of birdsong but somehow nature is a quiet, if a very effective form of grounding us.
Kym Beechey is a woman who loves the outdoors; in fact, she loves it so much that the connection with nature is familiar to her. She finds all the free time she can in natural environments, neverfailing to notice the little things the outdoors have to show. She wields her phone to capture these beautiful ephemeral moments and post them, thus, giving other people an insight into the magical world which she is exposed to.
Kym hunted out one day, through the forest, and came upon what she thought to be a baby tawny frogmouth in the bushes. Confusingly assumed to be a species of owl, these birds in camouflaged feathers with wide apart eyes are nocturnal and are well known in their capacity to camouflage into tree barks. It was a fortunate appearance, a pretty, cottony animal sitting patiently in its native environment.
Being all excited about the discovery, Kym whipped out her phone and made a snap. However, upon zooming up to have a closer look, she was surprised. It was not the bird, which she supposed: it was something entirely different: a banksia pod. These are unusual seed pods which grow on banksia trees and have long been familiar to Australians because of their rough surfaces, their wooden look and their innocent quaintness sometimes even comedy. Upon glance they might seem to resemble pine cones, yet their peculiarity becomes more noticeable the closer you get.
Banksia trees are indigenous to Australia particularly the SW of the country and some areas in New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. Their natures as seed pods are fascinating. The extreme environment scorching their land applied to these pods tended to protect them as they were tough, enclosed sealing capsules that only opened up under the intense fire as seen during bushfires; that is when they crack open and emit their seeds, a survival mechanism that makes sure that there is growth when the land has been cleared through fire.
Kym was unable to resist laughing at her mistake. The thought of experiencing a rare wildlife sighting turned out to be a silly trick of the design of nature. Seizing the moment she chose to share the picture over the internet, letting others get some glimpse of the trick and participate in the amusement of being tricked by the power of nature a little bit.
It is a soft lesson that things in nature are not always what they appear they are. Even an error can, at times, result in bringing happiness, smile and a fresh outlook towards what is around us. And this peeping game of nature deceived you as well?
