kirsten.welge

21
Jul
2023

Stories from South Africa: Southern Yellow-Billed Hornbills

A whole new soundscape

For the first few days in South Africa, I stayed at my friends’ home in one of the reserves that make up Kruger National Park. Lee and Kersey’s home and watering hole is pure magic on the Parsons Reserve: surrounded by wild landscape, and regularly visited by lions, hyena, elephant, leopard, vervet monkeys, and other creatures… who, of course, leave their tracks on the fine sand of the local trails.

Of course the sights of the bush are foreign to a child of the Northern Hemisphere forests, from the prickly knobthorn. buffalothorn, and sicklebush trees, to the array of native animals, to the very stars overhead at night. The sounds, too, are new and strange. At night, hyenas call with a distinctive swooping whoop, while lions groan and grunt to signal their movements. By day, a new world symphony from a feathered orchestra fills the air, with percussive punctuations from elephants crunching cambium off branches of marula and spikethorn.

One morning, I woke to odd cries outside my friend’s home in Kruger National Park: a series of repeated, almost stutter-y “AWK”s. (Listen to a similar recording here.) Puzzled, I peered out the window and saw this pair of striking black-and-white birds with massive curved bills, perched in a tree, speaking to one another.

Two Southern Yellow-Billed Hornbills perch on a tree trunk against a blue sky

 

 

 

Southern Yellow-Billed Hornbills

This was my first sighting of Southern yellow-billed hornbills (Tockus leucomelas), a common sight around the Greater Kruger area of South Africa. These medium-sized birds are distinctive for their long, curved bill, their powerful, controlled gliding from branch to ground, and their significant time spent walking about on the ground. I often observed yellow-billed hornbills turning over leaves and flipping up sand with those magnificent beaks, foraging for the invertebrates that are the mainstay of their diet. Although this was the only hornbill species I observed, there are several hornbill species present here in winter, including the Southern yellow-billed hornbill, Southern red-billed hornbill (with a slightly higher pitched call), and the much larger Southern ground hornbill (with its banjo-string vocalizations).

To visualize hornbill tracks, imagine a bird track a kindergartner might draw, with toe 1 facing back and toes 2-4 facing forward. This is a “classic bird track” structure, or anisodactyl. Now, modify this shape by fusing the first part of toes 3 and 4 (the outer, forward-facing toes). This is a syndactyl foot structure, shared by hornbills and kingfishers. 

Their tracks are very distinctive: the shape of a bent banana, about 6 cm in length. We often found walking trails, as well as paired tracks where the hornbill had taken off.

Interconnections: Southern yellow-billed hornbill and Dwarf Mongoose

During one game drive, our tracking crew noticed a Southern yellow-billed hornbill hopping through the brush, snatching insects and moving at a faster pace than I’d seen around our campfire area. Ahead of the hornbill, we could see sleek gray bodies darting through the brush: a troop of dwarf mongoose! Kersey, our guide and tracking teacher, explained the symbiotic connection. Hornbills will often associate with dwarf mongoose troops, waiting for them each dawn at the entrance to their termite mound burrow. As the mongoose forage across the land, they disrupt insects with their passing — creating opportunistic foraging for the following hornbill. In return, the hornbill will alarm when an aerial predator appears, allowing the mongoose to quickly seek cover.

Experiencing this interaction left me wondering about my home ecosystem:

  • How many birds have symbiotic relationships with the mammals where I live?
  • Which birds in my home ecosystem are primarily insectivores? (And, which insects are available in each season?)
  • What have I missed, when I’ve focused on “just” seeing the bird or listening for a call?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Resources: 

Click here for more Stories from South Africa.

Posted by kirsten.welge in Stories from South Africa, Tracking
15
Jul
2023

Stories from South Africa: Tracking in the Bush

I just returned from the most epic adventure of my life: a month of studying wildlife tracking in South Africa. Kersey Lawrence of Original Wisdom and Lee Gutteridge of Nature Guide Training hosted this phenomenal tracking intensive, featuring the landscape, plants, and animals of the wild bush of greater Kruger area.

Over the span of this program, we roamed this landscape by game drive viewer and by foot, encountering many of the animals who dwell here. We trained in recognition of spoor, to “identify, interpret, follow, and find” these animals — seeking to understand the interconnected whole of this place through the lens of tracking.

For me, these animals, plants, and land now exist in a real, tangible way — filled with color, texture, movement, and smells. Over the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing notes, photographs, and stories from South Africa, to relive those moments and share the inspiration I received from the land, its varied inhabitants, our human mentors and guides, and my tracker colleagues on this journey.

What’s Tracking? 

Tracking is a holistic process of coming to understand the land, its inhabitants, and their interactions and interconnections, through recognizing and identifying spoor (tracks or sign), interpreting behavior, following a particular animal or group of animals, and finding those animals (without disturbing their natural behaviors).

Tracker Certification North America, who administers CyberTracker evaluations on this continent, recently published a StoryMap that speaks to this. TCNA President Casey McFarland speaks beautifully to this question here.

I’ve been practicing and deepening this skill for about ten years, through monthly gatherings of the Minnesota Wildlife Tracking Project and through periodic evaluations by Cybertracker Evaluators. Cybertracker divides the skill of Tracking into two categories: Track & Sign Identification and Interpretation, and Trailing — following a fresh trail to see the animal.

Who Can Learn Tracking?

Tracking skills can be learned by any human with intention, attention, and patience. You can engage in this process anywhere, with any creatures. Kersey Lawrence recommends a daily practice of a “Ten Minute Walk”: walk outside for ten minutes, noticing how the tracks (including yours!) age day to day. This allows you to tune into the landscape, the weather, how the substrate (ground or ground cover) is registering your movements in this moment, who else is moving there, and how those fresh tracks age over time. With consistent practice over time, we become familiar with what tracks look like — learning the vocabulary of a new language.

What’s the Purpose of Tracking?

Tracking can be used in many ways, both professionally and personally. In South Africa, conservation teams track both the protected white and black rhino to gather data on their movements and associations, and anti-poaching units track down the humans who would kill them and take their horns to sell on the black market.

Tracking can also help us understand interrelations between animals or plants in a region. In South Africa, a common sighting was trees stripped of their bark or uprooted entirely with nibbled root systems — a sign of elephant feeding activity. On one occasion, we also noticed a southern yellow-billed hornbill hopping behind a troop of dwarf mongoose, feeding on the insects stirred up by their passage. In North America, Panthera and Department of Natural Resources researchers use tracking to gather data on mountain lion range and movements, interactions with prey species, and the benefit of their actions within the ecosystem.

Tracking also supports basic human health. Through the practice of tracking in community, I experience curiosity, fresh air and sunshine, and the benefit of interacting with fellow trackers with their own deep naturalist knowledge.

Every time I track, I am reminded that I am a small part of a vast interconnected whole, delighted by the stories left by my neighbors on this land, and humbled by the immense intricacies of these interactions. I will never know it all. This will be a lifelong journey, and I’m grateful for each new story along the way.

Stories from South Africa

Posted by kirsten.welge in Tracking
09
Feb
2023

You Can’t Forest Bathe by Zoom… Can You?

Forest bathing is traditionally thought of as an in-person activity on the landscape. Before 2020, guides were trained beginning with an in-person immersion with experienced mentors and other participants. However, when the pandemic descended in March 2020, the Association for Nature and Forest Therapy radically re-evaluated their training model. Continue reading →

Posted by kirsten.welge
19
Jan
2023

There’s No Tracking Like Snow Tracking!

Welcome to winter in Minnesota!

While the snowstorms over the last four weeks have posed some challenges for urban snow plowing, they have created incredible conditions for tracking. Tracking through snow can be an utter delight or a real challenge, depending on the conditions and your aims — but it does capture movements of animals you might not see in the warmer seasons.

Deer trails over a snowy river with trees on riverbanks.

Deer trails crisscross the snowy, mostly frozen Minnesota River at Fort Snelling State Park

Continue reading →

Posted by kirsten.welge
08
Oct
2022

A Taste of Track & Sign

One of my passions and practices is wildlife tracking: identifying tracks and sign left by animals on the landscape, and reading them to tell the story of (and possibly find) that animal.

This is often met with curiosity. A common question is, “Why do you do this?”

I used to say: I notice more than I ever did before. Or, I always feel better after spending time outside, following tracks. I feel alive outside.

I might also say: It makes the mundane, miraculous.

Let me show you.

 

Continue reading

Posted by kirsten.welge
24
Sep
2022

What is Forest Bathing?

A Snapshot from a June Forest Bathing Session

Warm light filters through flickering cottonwood leaves, playing along grass and sand and skin. The soft breeze sets the leaves rattling like rainfall, cools your cheeks, and offers smells of warmed earth and nectar. Deeper in the forest, a robin sings and chickadees call against the counterpoint of cicadas and percussive drum of woodpeckers. A russet doe steps tentatively onto the trail ahead, head swiveling to take in her surroundings. We pause, watching her scout the space, then encourage her crouched, wobbly-legged fawn to follow her across the path and into the forest.

If you think this could only happen in a pristine natural area, think again: Welcome to forest bathing in Saint Paul’s Fort Snelling State Park. 

From Public Health Practice to Mainstream Experience

A pathway lined with towering cottonwoods and silver maples invites forest bathing in Saint Paul.

Forest bathing (also known as forest therapy) is an English translation for a Japanese public health practice. Shinrin yoku (森林浴) was originally developed in response to a public health crisis in the 1980s1. During the previous decade, industrialization in Japan boomed: people migrated en masse from rural towns to urban centers for jobs, and logging of the forests increased. In the following years, the government noticed an alarming increase in human physical and mental disease related to urbanization. In response, in 1982, the Forest Agency of Japan began to encourage the people to return to the rural towns and mountains to shinrin yoku, or bathe in the forest atmosphere2. 

Thanks to their foresight and funding, we now have several decades of medical research behind this practice of a relaxed meander through the woods. There is strong evidence that forest bathing lowers high blood pressure in people with cardiovascular disease3, lowers hemoglobin A1C (blood glucose) levels in people with diabetes4, and improves reported mental health on scales measuring anxiety and depression5.  Japan has established over 40 certified shinrin yoku trails outside of cities, where one can travel to experience natural elements with the support of medical personnel trained as guides. 

There are several theories about why a slow, gentle experience in the forest has these effects. One theory proposes that breathing in phytoncides, antimicrobial organic compounds intended to protect the tree against fungi and bacteria, supports human immune systems6. Other theories posit that being in nature allows us to rest in effortless attention, restoring the ability to concentrate (Attention Restoration Theory)7, or time in nature accelerates recovery from stressful stimuli (Stress Reduction Theory)8, or naturally supports our ability to regulate emotions and our biological response to them (Affect Regulation Theory)9.

Whatever the reason, as one friend put it: Unsurprisingly, nature is good for you.

Why do I need a guide for a walk in the forest?

A participant lies down during forest bathing (shinrin yoku) in January at Crosby Farm Regional Park

For those of you wondering, “Do I actually need a guide for this?” – there’s a research study on that, too! Forest bathing on your own appears to confer different benefits than forest bathing with a guide10.

You may also find that it’s helpful to forest bathe with a guide to start your practice, just as you might begin a yoga, martial arts, or meditation practice by studying with an experienced teacher. If you’re concerned about personal safety or looking silly in an urban park, you may find that being part of a larger, guided group allows you to relax and enjoy your experience.

You may also wish to try different guides. Each guide offers a different style, informed by their unique background. 

Relational Forest Bathing (The Americanized, ANFT Approach)

Striking bands of copper, cream, and blue adorn this turkey tail mushroom. Fort Snelling State Park, Fall 2021

I trained through the international Association for Nature & Forest Therapy, which aims to restore the relationship between people and land. After experiencing shinrin yoku in Japan, ANFT founder M. Amos Clifford developed a structure to support people in dropping into the rhythm of a natural place, emphasizing that “The Forest is the therapist. The guide opens the doors.” 

The ANFT approach, now termed “Relational Forest Bathing”, does not focus solely on the human health benefits available from the forest. Instead, it emphasizes the reciprocity that exists when we seek to develop a relationship with the more-than-human world. You might think of this as you would a human friendship. You wouldn’t make a friend solely to extract the positive health benefits for yourself! But you still experience the positive benefits of connection, warmth, and support as you tend that friendship.

What you’ll experience on my walks

I welcome people onto the land for two to three hours. During this experience, I offer simple, open, sensory invitations, followed by invitations to share – allowing both individual exploration, as well as community reflection and witnessing of experience. From my experience, this structure is extremely effective at orienting people to their senses, the land, and one another. Even one hour can be powerful.

I’ve seen a wide range of participant responses over the 30 experiences I’ve guided in city parks and rural spaces from June 2021-June 2022. Some are amazed that these hidden forests and this feeling of wildness and ease can exist within the city. Others share that they noticed something completely new to them in a familiar landscape. Many participants express deep emotions moving from their time in the forest: an upwelling of grief, wonder, relaxation, playfulness, or joy. And others have commented on the kinship and community they feel with people on the walk, who were strangers just two hours before! All is welcome in this space.

During this experience, I offer simple, open, sensory invitations, followed by invitations to share – allowing both individual exploration, as well as community reflection and witnessing of experience. From my experience, this structure is extremely effective at orienting people to their senses, the land, and one another.

Kirsten Welge, certified Guide
Forest bathing art and its creators (Como Woodland Classroom)

In Summary

  • As a forest bathing guide, I aim to restore the connection between people and land, from backcountry to backyard. 
  • As a participant, you can expect a relaxed meander, with a few invitations to explore the landscape with your senses, followed by invitations to share what you’re noticing. You can adapt invitations as needed.
  • There’s scientific research pointing to myriad health benefits of spending time in nature, and forest bathing in particular. 
  • Side effects may include stress relief, awe, unexpected playfulness, or child-like wonder. 
  • Through forest bathing in local urban parks, city residents can discover new green spaces, experience familiar landscapes in a completely new light, and try out a new way to support their mental and physical health through a simple, effective practice. And, it’s fun!

If you’re curious and want to try guided forest bathing…

Join a public guided forest bathing session with me. 

I guide experiences across the Twin Cities Metro area, including Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve in East Bethel. 

Sign up here to receive news of upcoming forest bathing sessions. 

I generally schedule public sessions 2-3 months in advance. And yes, I guide in all seasons!

Contact me directly if you’d like to arrange for a private walk.

I’d be glad to work with you to craft a personalized individual or small group experience.

Footnotes for Further Exploration

1: From Haiku to Shinrin-Yoku: A brief history of forest bathing by Julia Plevin

2: An Interview with Forest Medicine and Shinrin Yoku Researcher Dr. Qing Li

3: Effects of forest bathing on pre-hypertensive and hypertensive adults: a review of the literature – PMC

4: Shinrin-yoku (forest-air bathing and walking) effectively decreases blood glucose levels in diabetic patients

5: Effects of Shinrin-Yoku (Forest Bathing) and Nature Therapy on Mental Health: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

6: Effect of Forest Bathing Trips on Human Immune Function (Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine)

7: Joy and Calm: How an Evolutionary Functional Model of Affect Regulation Informs Positive Emotions in Nature

8: Stress recovery during exposure to natural and urban environments

9: Effects of Shinrin-Yoku (Forest Bathing) and Nature Therapy on Mental Health: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

10: Forest Therapy Alone or with a Guide: Is There a Difference between Self-Guided Forest Therapy and Guided Forest Therapy Programs? – PMC

Posted by kirsten.welge in Forest Bathing
13
Sep
2021

Nature in Community, in the Twin Cities: Track & Sign Evaluations

I regularly track in community with our local Minnesota Wildlife Tracking Project (and you can too! Join us here). It’s how I began tracking nearly 8 years ago. I treasure those four hours each month, of people coming to know nature around and within themselves.

As the seasons shift, the landscape serves up a different feast each month of tracks in mud, sand, or snow. or insect sign, or some really interesting scats along the trail. Each person brings their contribution to what we see: whether that’s a beginner bringing fresh eyes and new questions, or a seasoned naturalist sharing deep knowledge of an animal’s seasonal behavior. And each of us walk away with a greater awareness of the interactions of animals on the landscape, and of our internal processes.

Over Labor Day weekend, I had the pleasure of participating in another Cybertracker Track & Sign Evaluation, and assisting with a second, right in my tracking “backyard”: the Twin Cities metro area.

Continue reading →

Posted by kirsten.welge