The nature of nature
By Bill Fox/Columnist
Three weeks ago, my youngest son Jonny and his partner Renee, better known as The Standstills, departed on a cross Canada tour with I Mother Earth and Our Lady Peace, and will be playing at the GM Centre in Oshawa on Oct. 29.
Another ‘Godincidence’ in my mind, was that on my oldest son Chris’ 40th birthday, The Standstills were playing in Abbotsford, BC, only 30 minutes away from where he lives. So the fix was in. I would fly out to BC and surprise Chris by showing up in a seat beside him at the concert. Did not quite work out that way – as a doting Dad, I couldn’t wait that long after arriving in BC a day early. So I showed up at his house, on his birthday and the morning of the concert.
On the day after Abbotsford, The Standstills drove to Kelowna to play and then drove all night long through Jasper National Park to get to Grand Prairie for their next night’s show. It was around 7 a.m. that they came across two moose by the highway, a mother and her calf. They stopped the van and filmed them, as they had not seen a moose before. Opening the window for a better view, Jon put on some “moose music.” The mother turned around and her ears perked up…a few moments later, they drove on.
An hour later, they saw something down a hill. On approaching what they thought might be a dead animal just off the road, they saw that it was a grizzly bear eating a moose! Once again, they filmed their experience and put it onto their website and Facebook. By that night, they had over 100,000 views. The film clip has gone viral, hitting over 250,000 each of the next two days. Perhaps by now, you too might have seen it. If not, you can look up The Standstills on your computer and find both videos. I knew grizzlies ate salmon, but never imagined they would devour a moose. The nature of things and grizzlies I never realized.
A month ago, I had the pleasure of witnessing my third son Brendan’s wedding at sea while on an Alaskan cruise. I never understood how an Alaskan cruise is the second most popular cruise destination. Now I can understand why. To see whales and the wildlife was really enlightening. We learned that bald eagles not only mate for life, but they also make each other stronger and better hunters. If by chance one of the mates does not meet up to “eagle standards,” the partner does away with it and seeks a new mate. The term eagle eye is because of the fantastic vision an eagle has. The eagle eye is among the strongest in the animal kingdom, with eyesight estimated at eight times stronger than that of the average human. An eagle is said to be able to spot a rabbit 3.2 km away. I always thought that protruding from their beaks were nostrils of a sort. As we learned in a workshop, they are akin to cross hairs and in fact the technology used for fighter pilot precision bombing was originally based on eagle vision.
A highlight of the Alaskan cruise, aside from the wedding and being with family, was seeing the glaciers up close. My son actually got married in a bay of glaciers, appropriately called Glacier Bay. We certainly discovered how glaciers were shrinking and even while we were in the bay, we saw glaciers calving, meaning ice chunks falling away from the base. All in all, it was a very educational experience learning more about the nature of things in the north.
However there was one really strange sight that I will never forget. My son and his bride were married outside on the tallest section on the ship. It was quite cool in Glacier Bay, but thankfully the sun was shining. As the wedding ceremony was coming to a close, a monarch butterfly landed near the ceremony. I was stunned at a butterfly this far north! My wife simply said, “who is that?” There is so much to learn about the nature of nature.