Creatures of the Big Dark
Encounters with the hidden life of Meydenbauer Bay
“It’s a deer!” shouted Raj as I was making him quesadillas for breakfast. I grabbed my phone and ran out the door to take a picture. The stag was purposefully striding through the parking lot of my condo. A flock of ducks, geese, and seagulls feeding nearby fly away in unison, making a cacophony from wings flapping in unison in the pre-dawn darkness. He walks past the Meydenbauer Bay Yacht Club right in the center of the road. I fiddle with my phone to zoom in on the picture. When I look up, he has disappeared into the darkness. Did he go left, deeper into the city, or right, where there is a park he can hide in? It’s cold without a coat and in my slippers so I turn around and go back inside.
A couple weeks later, I walk Sage just after dusk on his nightly walk. We trace the path of the deer. The sky is dark grey but you can see white low lying clouds and the lights on the houses that ring the Bay. A few already have their holiday lights up. As we turn around and start walking home, our eyes meet. A barred owl on a perch five feet high and less than 10 feet in front of me looks into my eyes. Sage and I are keenly in her field of awareness. We continue on our path home, which requires me to walk closer to her. Her eyes lock with mine. I shout, “Stay back! Stay back!” I pull Sage closer to me as we walk home. I like to have Sage for safety, but he seems oblivious to the situation, and I need to be the protector. Her head turns as we round the corner. I see her blink. Her talons grip the signpost she is perched on. Sage and I walk briskly through the cool evening air as we round the corner and make it home safely.
The Big Dark is a period in the Seattle area where daylight hours shrink faster than any major city in the lower 48. A rainy, short day can put out 1/10,000 the amount of light on a sunny summer day. The air is cold, and the ground is often damp. Leaves are about half fallen from the deciduous trees, mostly yellow-leafed Big Maples this time of year. The Big Dark shortens days so to stay sane, one must be comfortable in the darkness.