The Charlie Brown Tree

 

White fir tree and barn, Halibut Point

There's a praiseworthy evergreen specimen near the Park entrance. This White fir is not a native tree, but was perfectly sited in the meadow for adequate sun and space to fulfill its symmetrical destiny. It towers over the old barn that has seen better days.

Charlie Brown and Snoopy

The scene calls to mind a Peanuts cartoon portraying tender feelings for an orphan Christmas tree. But these two pictures reverse the pathos: Snoopy's doghouse looks better than our sagging barn.

 

The cedar tree
(Eastern Red Juniper)

However, by turning around, I face a real-life orphan tree alongside Gaffield Avenue, the Park's entry road. I always go up to this tree on arrival to see what might be perched in its branches. The cedar planted itself, on a collision course with misfortune. Its upper half has been carved away by utility companies trimming around power lines. Its gappy skirt is laced with snow.

An Eastern Wood-Pewee

Sometimes birds find the cedar-wreathed wires a convenient station for hunting insects.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Others inspect the tree regularly on summer days for tidbits in the foliage,

Black-throated Green Warbler

or find nourishment within its ecosystem during spring migration.

Chain saw work

The tree lives at the borderline of nature and human enterprise, just as the Park itself does.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Its carved-out canopy affords glimpses not so easily visible elsewhere. I wait for quick movements of interior busyness. 

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Dark-eyed Junco

Cowbird

Birds send out mating calls when their time comes to be conspicuous on the tree spires. 

Grape vine

Around the Park cedars thrive in the early stages of forest succession from abandoned pasture land. The maturing woodlands tend to engulf the pioneering cedars. A grape vine reaching across Gaffield Avenue from this vegetative melee threatens to enshroud the tree.

Red squirrel

The vine provides an aerial highway to a squirrel crossing the lane to test the ripeness of pears at the top of a tree that is disappearing within the returning forest. Fruit trees are another remnant of domesticated land.

This cedar gets a reprieve from reforestation due to its roadside location, and to regular mowing of the meadow. It is a sentinel of hospitality.

Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Matthew 25:40