Coyote Corner

Date Posted:
May 21, 2021, 12:43 AM

Alex Jones was telling me about how the LRDP planners consider this part of campus less ecologically valuable due to the predominance of Avena barbata (slender wild oat, an invasive annual grass from Europe, introduced back when cattle were introduced, likely) and wild radish (another invasive). However, this territory is important habitat for coyotes, hawks, and (many) blackbirds. The conservationist's aversion to 'invasives' gets complicated when other local critters come to depend on them.

I took a tip from the stealthy coyotes and used the tall wild oats as a my cloak of invisibility (see end of the video). The wild oats were just as tall as my tent so I was able to go entirely undetected by dog walkers, bikers, and campus police nearby this intersection. I chose to insert myself as a soundmaker a bit more in this vigil: attuning to airplane sounds with my alto flute, talking to the red-winged blackbirds with my modular synth, singing about (and with) the wind-blown wild oats.