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Transcript

Written on Snow · Street Smart Naturalist

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Greetings,
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  SPEAKER_00: this is David B.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Williams and the podcast of my newsletter,
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  SPEAKER_00: The Street Smart Naturalist,
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  SPEAKER_00: Explorations of the Urban Kind.
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  Every week I share my observations and adventures with the
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  human and natural world
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  SPEAKER_00: around Seattle,
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  SPEAKER_00: Puget Sound,
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  SPEAKER_00: and the Pacific Northwest.
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  SPEAKER_00: Today's episode focuses on stories found on snowy days.
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  SPEAKER_00: To learn more about my work, please go to my website, geologywriter.com.
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  You will also find a link to my Substack newsletter and my
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  previous four years of newsletters,
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  SPEAKER_00: as well as images tied to this week's episode.
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  SPEAKER_00: Thanks again for joining me on this adventure,
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  SPEAKER_00: and welcome to Podcast 11 of The Street Smart Naturalist,
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  SPEAKER_00: Written in Snow,
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  SPEAKER_00: February 13,
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  SPEAKER_00: 2025.
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  SPEAKER_00: Few natural storytellers are better than snow, or more ephemeral.
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  I was lucky enough to read some of the stories told by Snow in
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  Seattle's recent Snowmageddon.
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  SPEAKER_00: For those not from my fair city,
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  SPEAKER_00: we got two inches of the white snuff,
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  SPEAKER_00: or enough to cause general panic and chaos.
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  SPEAKER_00: Steep hills,
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  SPEAKER_00: a lack of equipment to deal with snow,
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  SPEAKER_00: and overconfident drivers are not a good recipe for safe travel.
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  One year,
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  the lack of preparation for snow even led to the political
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  demise of our mayor.
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  SPEAKER_00: Taking advantage of the snow,
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  SPEAKER_00: I walked down to Green Lake,
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  SPEAKER_00: a small body of water about 10 minutes south of our house.
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  Although I saw few people there,
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  those who came before had left their tracks in the snow.
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  To be perfectly frank,
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  I was disappointed by the traces they had produced.
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  SPEAKER_00: I always find a simple pleasure in being the first to track across snow,
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  SPEAKER_00: and these rascals had beaten me to it.
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  SPEAKER_00: But in doing so, the snow tracks told a story that surprised me.
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  SPEAKER_00: More people get out early in the day than I realized.
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  SPEAKER_00: As an early morning runner,
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm not used to seeing people,
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  SPEAKER_00: but in my ignorance,
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  SPEAKER_00: I had a clue that I was not alone.
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  SPEAKER_00: Not surprisingly, animal tracks were everywhere.
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  SPEAKER_00: Small hops left by juncos.
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  SPEAKER_00: The steady gait of crows,
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  some of which ended in a double-footed track as the bird leapt
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  into flight.
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  SPEAKER_00: The leaping, liquid jumps of squirrels.
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  SPEAKER_00: At our house, their tracks revealed how they snuck through the fences.
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  SPEAKER_00: The two-inch long and wide webbed W of Canada geese.
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  SPEAKER_00: In a few places, the tracks entered the water.
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  SPEAKER_00: I could then,
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  SPEAKER_00: and this quite pleased me,
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  SPEAKER_00: follow the birds as they paddled through the slushy water.
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  SPEAKER_00: Looking out across the lake,
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  SPEAKER_00: I could see dozens of what I call kinu trails,
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  SPEAKER_00: left by numerous birds plying their way through the oatmeal-y water.
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  SPEAKER_00: Kinu,
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  SPEAKER_00: spelled Q-I-N-N-U,
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  SPEAKER_00: is an Anutatuk term from the area around Kengate,
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  SPEAKER_00: formerly known as Cape Dorset,
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  SPEAKER_00: in the Canadian Arctic.
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  SPEAKER_00: In a 2005 paper,
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  SPEAKER_00: Kinu was defined as,
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  SPEAKER_00: quote,
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  SPEAKER_00: early stage of ice formation,
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  SPEAKER_00: a slushy consistency in the water,
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  SPEAKER_00: the ice particles are soft and never really freeze,
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  SPEAKER_00: unquote.
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  Although based on salt water,
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  and seems an appropriate word for the slush at Green Lake.
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  Seeing the various tracks on land reminded me of something I
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  read many years ago.
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  SPEAKER_00: Researchers could track polar bears using infrared.
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  SPEAKER_00: As bears walk through snow,
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  SPEAKER_00: the paths of their feet released heat,
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  SPEAKER_00: which could be seen with infrared imagery.
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  SPEAKER_00: Turns out,
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  SPEAKER_00: though,
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  that this doesn't really work because the heat dissipates too
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  quickly in the Arctic.
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  SPEAKER_00: I guess you cannot always trust what you read or remember reading.
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  SPEAKER_00: What is more amazing,
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  SPEAKER_00: though,
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  is that researchers are now able to collect skin cells shed
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  from polar bear
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  SPEAKER_00: footpads in their paw prints.
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  SPEAKER_00: With that information,
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  SPEAKER_00: termed eDNA or environmental DNA,
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  SPEAKER_00: it is possible to identify individual polar bears and their sex.
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  This non-invasive information can then be used to make better
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  management decisions,
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  SPEAKER_00: which are becoming ever more critical with climate change.
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  SPEAKER_00: A week prior to Snowmageddon,
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  SPEAKER_00: while biking on the Centennial Trail with my pal Scott,
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  SPEAKER_00: I had a chance to read other stories written in the snow.
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  SPEAKER_00: These were not penned by animals, but by the sun.
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  SPEAKER_00: Riding along, I was perplexed by where snow was and wasn't.
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  SPEAKER_00: In some places,
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  SPEAKER_00: snow covered one side of the trail and not the other,
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  SPEAKER_00: or would end in a straight line,
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  SPEAKER_00: as if a wall had been in place when the snow fell.
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  SPEAKER_00: In other spots, the snow on the ground looked patternless.
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  SPEAKER_00: As I thought about it,
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  SPEAKER_00: I realized that I was seeing a pattern not of snow fall,
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  SPEAKER_00: but of snow melt.
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  I didn't figure this out immediately because the day we rode
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  was completely overcast and gray.
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  SPEAKER_00: No sunlight illuminated either the land or my brain.
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  SPEAKER_00: The previous day had been sunlit,
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  SPEAKER_00: and wherever it had pierced through foliage,
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  SPEAKER_00: it had melted the snow.
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  SPEAKER_00: This was the pattern I was seeing.
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  SPEAKER_00: I admit that this isn't terribly earth-shattering,
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  SPEAKER_00: fortunately,
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  but I also know that I was happy and pleased with myself for
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  linking what I saw
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  SPEAKER_00: with the natural phenomena that caused it.
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  As a writer focused on the natural world,
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  I am always looking for connections.
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  SPEAKER_00: Across time, across space, across disciplines.
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  I do so because these connections further my links to and love
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  for the place I call home.
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  Taking the time to appreciate the world around me further
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  centers me and rejuvenates me.
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  SPEAKER_00: And it's just plain fun.
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  SPEAKER_00: If I hadn't been paying attention,
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  I wouldn't have had the pleasure of solving that little mystery
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  written in snow.
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  SPEAKER_00: Once again,
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  SPEAKER_00: this is David B.
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  SPEAKER_00: Williams,
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  SPEAKER_00: author and voice of The Street Smart Naturalist,
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  SPEAKER_00: Explorations of the Urban Kind,
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  a weekly newsletter and podcast focusing on the human and
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  natural world around Seattle,
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  SPEAKER_00: Puget Sound,
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  SPEAKER_00: and the Pacific Northwest.
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  SPEAKER_00: For more information about my books,
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: walks,
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: and talks,
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: and a link to sign up for my newsletter and podcast,
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: check out my website,
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: geologywriter.com.
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  And don't forget to slow down,
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  pay attention,
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  and enjoy the world around you.