Wild animals help us find deeper meanings in the landscapes around us. And the wild connects with us — we learn in this video, for example, that wild hawks like listening to people singing traditional Cahuilla bird songs. Longtime licensed falconer Rebecca K. O’Connor of Inland Southern California also shares the story of Sawyer, a young red-tailed hawk, and invites you to join us for Dorothy Ramon Learning Center’s next online adventure.
Information: "A Raptor As a Guide: How Hawks, Eagles, and Falcons Teach Us to Connect with Our Natural World," 6 pm California time, Aug. 17, 2020. Co-sponsored by Rivers and Lands Conservancy. Free. Donations to our nonprofit Learning Center are welcome! Please sign up via Zoom to join our online conversation:
“Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting—
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.” — Mary Oliver, “Wild Geese,” Dreamwork, 1986
Qaarc and the Apple Fire
In the spring we admired a majestic wooden home on a hillside with a nearby commanding view of the Southern California wilderness. Built in a traditional dome style, the house stood nestled among qaarqc, or white sage. It had been called home by generations of qaarm, Serrano for the plural of woodrats, or pack rats.
Qaarc (Serrano), or qawal (Cahuilla), was living the good life among our canyon qaarqc. Over the years the different generations of little rodents had continued to add sticks, as they always do, until their mansion stood impressively. Inside, no doubt, were chambers and tunnels worthy of a tour, perhaps including a special “room” with all the shiny treasures they’d found on their nightly excursions and hoarded. Human pack rats just don’t compare with the real deal.
Woodrats are not really rats at all, famed biologist Edmund C. Jaeger was quick to point out. Rather than insult these different native species of the mountains, canyons, and deserts by associating them with sinister, disease-carrying European rats, he instead called the rodent its Latin name, Neotoma (1). We call it Qaarc.
Qaarc (plural, qaarm) is a clean little mammal, said to wash itself like a cat. It is industrious, going out every night to find, eat, and hoard insects, seeds, berries, and nuts such as acorns. The night travels are also a time to find sticks to add to the home — and shiny treasures to hoard. Ernest Siva once thought he was constantly misplacing all the baling knives among the hay in his livestock barn, until he realized that Qaarc was carrying away all the knives to add to what must have been an impressive display. Qaarc makes us laugh.
Qaarc never stops adding sticks to the family dome home, and the homes pass down through generations. Out in the desert, scientists pinpointing the dates and identities of pieces of well-preserved Qaarc homes have found materials that are thousands of years old, such as pieces of ancient pine trees pointing to an earlier desert with a cooler climate (2).
Qaarc also once was treasured as an important and tasty food source for Southern California people. Dorothy Ramon remembered:
'Amatunga' nena'vu' heynycu' tengek … Txavu' 'api'a' pinay.
My father would go hunting … And then he’d bring them home.
Vu' tee' 'aam qaarm. … Hakup mar'wi'i' qaarc qwȇych.
He would barbecue them. … That woodrat makes good eating.
… Hakup mar'wi'i' tengek raaqwch. 'Ama' 'ayee.'
… And it was simply delicious. That’s all. (3)
In addition, anthropologist Lowell Bean reported, “When the need arose, nests of these animals were raided for mesquite beans, acorns, and pinyon nuts which the animals hoarded. This was considered an extra bonus in food collecting, and is an activity recalled with humor by the Cahuilla. (4).”
As the Apple Fire burned more than 33,000 acres in and around the San Bernardino Mountains in early August 2020, we all evacuated. We are thankful the firefighters saved our homes. Qaarc was not as fortunate. His palace in the sage burned to the ground, revealing the large rock that was at the base of his home, which had been shielding his nest. We wondered whether Qaarc was OK.
Happily, a couple days after coming home, we saw those familiar pudgy footprints making their way among the debris and ash-coated ground. And then we saw Qaarc himself. He paused for a moment, then scurried to safety. We will leave out some shiny bottlecaps for him tonight, as his rebuilding begins. — Pat Murkland
Notes
1. Edmund C. Jaeger, Desert Wildlife, Stanford University Press, © 1950, 1951 Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University; this edition was first published in 1961, reprinted 1968, pp. 94-103.
2. James W. Cornett, Wildlife of the North American Deserts, © Nature Trails Press, Palm Springs, CA, 1987, p. 186.
3. Dorothy Ramon (and Eric Elliott), “Cooking Woodrats,” in Wayta’ Yawa’: Always Believe, Malki Museum Press, 2001, pp. 845-46.
4. Lowell John Bean, Mukat’s People: The Cahuilla Indians of Southern California, University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, © 1972 by the Regents of the University of California, pp. 59-60.
Qaych Akuum
Elder Ernest Siva (Cahuilla-Serrano), president of Dorothy Ramon Learning Center, sings the Serrano lullaby "Qaych Akuum," and talks about his concern for wild animals, including qaarm (Serrano for woodrats) in the aftermath of the more than 33,000-acre Apple Fire in August 2020 in Southern California. His dog, Remy, joins him. Thank you to firefighters for saving their home.
Join Us!
Dorothy Ramon Learning Center is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that saves and shares Southern California Native American cultures, languages, history, and traditional arts. Join us at dorothyramon.org and Dorothy Ramon Learning Center on Facebook.
Please tell us what you’d like to see in your newsletter: Email. Thank you!
Pat Murkland, Editor. Aug. 12, 2020