Earlier this spring, I was watching a periodic visitor to the Monterey Bay with great interest. A single Common Loon, bobbing up and down in the surf, was a frequent visitor to a small cove by my home. I have always been fascinated and moved by the song of the loon. I have memories of them from years ago while exploring by canoe the waters of Northern Minnesota and Southern Ontario. I’ve never heard the loon’s song here in Santa Cruz, but in their summer breeding grounds, I’ve heard their call many times. The song of the loon is to me one of the most mysterious and haunting of all of the calls of the wild-in the same category as the bugling of a bull elk echoing off a mountain valley, or the cry of the wolf carrying throughout a cold, crisp night.
Dreams sometimes use bird and animal images to point toward our deeper instinctual Self. Loons dive deep for food. Similar to how we must “dive” deep to explore the inner images of our own unique Self.
Being observant and immersed in nature, and listening to nature’s sounds, reminds us of our vital connection to both our deeper, instinctual Self, and to the natural world. Those of us in the Monterey Bay area, who live close to the sea and mountains, are in a fortunate place to take in these mysteries.
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