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I have lately been finding
myself stalking the wild water skipper. The shadows they cast,
and
whorls around their "feet" fascinate me; being as those
are so different in shape
and conformation than the little creatures
themselves.
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I was in the midst of such a
pursuit when I began to notice something peculiar. The twigs in the
bottom of the creek appeared to be moving. The movement was unusual; it
was not a tandem motion, as if they were being washed about by some
unseen below-surface current. No! They appeared to be moving -- ever so
slowly -- in individuated rhythms. On closer investigation, I discovered
that they were, in fact crawling on the bottom of the creek
bed!
I watched them for quite some time, just to be sure my imagination was
not going wild, and at length I became satisfied that the
"twigs" were, in fact, creatures of an extraordinary species.
My guess would be that they are some sort of prehistoric insect,
surviving here in the relatively secluded arroyo for eon upon eon.
My first attempts at
photographing them were completely unsatisfactory. Although they reside
- and mate, and leave trails - in pools as shallow as perhaps only four
inches, their clever camouflage outfits continued to trick the
macro-brain/eye of my camera. They blend so perfectly well into their
environment, the camera does not see them as distinct from the sand upon
which they tread. Ultimately, I turned off the macro, and continued
trying to capture the images, even as I became more and more intrigued
by them.
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In groups, they just look like twigs; some perfectly matching the pine and juniper bark of surrounding
vegetation, while others have flecks of color to match the
red-orange sand in the bottom of the flood pools of the arroyo. The more
I look, the more I become aware that each one is absolutely unique, and
distinct from all the others. They're not like flies, one
indistinguishable from another (unless you happen to be one, I suppose).
Each of these has its own individual appearance. Some have
long horns; I'm assuming they are males. Others look like plain tubes,
but bearing the colorful flecks in an infinite variety of patterns. They
have "heads", and legs, but these are very difficult to
discern, until they are climbing up onto something, such as a leaf or
twig below the surface of the water. They move with incredible
slowness.
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It makes me uncomfortable to
look at them for very long. Even though I consider myself to be fairly
attuned to the natural world, seen and unseen, the fact that I
overlooked them for so long a time, bothers me. It gives me a creepy
feeling; rather like the intuitive sense that I am "being
watched". I wonder what else lurks in the pools and crevices of the
area?
Today, I took numerous
pictures, hoping for at least one or two photos that would help me to
explain my discovery. I don't like working with the pictures. They give
me a creepy feeling, just as standing above the flood pools does, now.
Yet, determined to bring the shallow-dwelling creatures to light -- if
only for my own edification -- I persevered to edit, sharpen, and crop
in such a way as to bring them out of their perfectly hidden existence
in the puddles.
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It was only after such
editing, that I discovered OTHER creatures, smaller yet, than the Twig
People - these were somewhat less unsettling to me, since they
at least resemble some other insects that I have seen before .... but the fact that I have overlooked them until they came
beneath my "microscopic" editing equipment, disturbs me even
further. I think of all the millions of tiny Universes that I must be
trampling across obliviously every day, and the humility of the
realization evokes feelings approaching despair. I think that I
want to see all the creatures, and understand them, and perhaps
even love them .... but the total truth about that is: I am afraid!
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