It may be a flower couched in a cluster of decaying leaves. You can’t quite name it. Let’s face it. High school biology is now but a far off, cloudy phantasmagoria suspended in the bleakness of your fragile, eggshell mind.

Perhaps, it is a newt at the stream’s edge, not recognized even by you, the frequent passer by. What was that thing called, anyway?

Then there is the familiar wildlife that dashes across the headlights at night so instantly as to defy recognition. Your best guess will have to do !

Indeed, there is a steady dose of challenge here in the woods. The “What Was That ?” game never ends , attributable only to the forest… and the weary, wayworn biology classes of ages past.

The sounds of the woods, however, are the most quizzical. Nighttime in warmer weather is when the forest is teeming with sounds. There are the fairly standard hoots, caws, cries, chirps , vibrations and screeches. Many are readily identifiable. Some just are NOT.

Yes, it’s true. There are some noises in the woods that I can’t identify to save myself. Then there are what we call THE KILLING FIELDS !!

Sorry, all of you bleeding hearts out there. Animals have predators. They all do. Just spend the night around my house. (No comments from the peanut gallery!) Eventually you will perceive shrieks of fantastic terror never heard before! If you wonder what it is that you’re hearing, you may repose comfortably knowing that it was simply an animal being snuffed out by a bigger animal. That’s all.

Such is life in the woods. Nature’s noises abound.