Hit 50 different maple trees identified this weekend without a guidebook

I was just wandering a patch of woods near my house and realized I could name every single maple I passed without checking my phone. My wife said I was bragging, but honestly it just felt good to see that practice paying off. Anyone else get a quiet milestone like that sneaking up on them?

2 comments

2 Comments

jordan4648d ago

Oh man, you know I gotta push back a little here. I get what @allen.ruby is saying about bird calls, but for me that kind of thing feels different from tree ID. Birds move around and you hear them, but trees just stand there waiting for you to figure them out. I think there's something more satisfying about walking up to a tree and being able to name it by the bark and the leaf shape, like you're reading a silent story. It's a slower kind of knowing, I guess, more like memorizing a face than a song.

allen.ruby8d ago

That's awesome, good for you. I had the same thing happen with bird calls last spring. Just realized one day I could tell a cardinal from a finch without even looking up.