Regular Nose - Not a Reindeer

During the summer of 1994, I worked in the Ecology Department. As briefly mentioned in a prior post, it was essentially a small building with a pit that we stocked with local amphibians and reptiles. Frogs were the mainstay of the pit, but we also had some turtles, garter snakes and even the occasional snapping turtle and water snake. The water snakes were nasty fellows. Because I lacked the skills of Steve Irwin, I often got bitten trying to snag these guys. There bite was not venomous, but it did contain an anticoagulant - meaning that the wound would bleed a bit longer than normal. I learned this fact from Mike Rudolph.

Mike was my boss and the sole other employee there. This dude loved Nature. He was the type of guy that listened to bird songs and frog calls on tape and could identify most species both by the common name and the latin name. He was not a nerd, far from it. He just really had a passion for nature. He taught me little tricks of the trade that I still use to this day. He taught me the easiest way to tell the difference between a white pine (pinus strobus) and a red pine (pinus resinosus). A white pine has five needles per bunch, just like the number of letters in "white". Additionally, there is a thin white line that runs along the underside of the white pine needle. Similarly, he taught me the difference between red maple and sugar maple. That was the best part. His enthusiasm was infectious. He would lead the entire staff on a nature walk. No-one had done this before. Even if you didn't actually see any animals, we would all stop and listen and he would identify three or four different bird calls. While the birds were almost certainly singing before he instructed us to listen, we didn't hear them. It wasn't until he made us listen and told us what to listen for, that we actually heard. He would pick up road kill and bring it back to the lodge so we could learn to dissect it.

In addition to being a great teacher, he was also a great friend. He took me under his wing when he didn't have to. He let me drive his car, even though I didn't have a license, and always made me feel included. When his parents came to visit at camp, they brought me a sandwich from the local store as well. I don't think it was a concious decision on his part, it was just his inherent nature. Unfortunately, he only worked at camp that one summer. It was likely for the best, he was too talented and too smart. The scouts that we saw generally came through camp for just one week and were interested in getting a merit badge. Very few actually wanted to learn. It is a shame, because Mike had so much to teach.