Twilight to Near Dark in the Woods

Another mild mid late winter day in the Woods. Just before sunset I walked in via the NW Trail past the pond and set out, off-trail through the open Woods. East of the NW Pond the forest floor of leaves of hackberry, willow and elm was sprouting a greenish verdure. Young inch high sprouts of Galium bedstraw, Stellaria chickweed and other green understory herbs were beginning to rise above the dried leaves. Good forage for young cottontails, mice and other small herbivores. I wandered east, deliberately not following the marked paths, to see what new sights I would find. As I walked, I encountered soft subtle currents of air, cooler down drafts and 50 feet farther on, warmer eddies. I wondered if the paths of these currents are set by the topography and vegetation so that in the absence of significant wind, wildlife living in the Woods knows which way the breezes will blow and can navigate familiar routes, following scent trails to food, safety, favorite places or to hunt prey.
By the time I turned back west the twilight was moving on to near dark and I admired the silhouetted forms of the larger trees.  The form and size of big deciduous trees are always better appreciated at night and in the winter. The massive pecan with its spreading crown, so different from the lower but massive trunks of the walnut or more tightly gathered crowns of the old elm and sugarberry. The largest green ash with unbranched bole rises straight and tall over branching lower species.
I did not see any white-tailed deer this evening.. but I often do. This is their world. We think of them out and about in the daylight forest, seeing it much as we do. In fact the forest of the white-tailed deer is most often the crepuscular forest of twilight and early evening with colors shifted to reds and golds of sunset or faded altogether into the shadows and forms of the forest near darkness.
I paused to talk with my friend the barred owl. I usually encounter at twilight setting in the branches of one of the largest pecans or some of the smaller old junipers nearby. It calls to the evening and I answer with a four or five note whistle from a small owl. The barred owl I think is curious but has heard this often enough that I think it knows I am not the real thing.