To see is one of God's great gifts to man 
and to comprehend what we see is doubly so. 

Furthermore, 
He has endowed some
people with the qualities to see the beauties
 of life and nature much more than others 
and they have the greatest gift of all. 
~ Waite Phillips, Epigrams

Yes,  I'm doing what you think I'm doing.   I'm sniffing the Jeffrey pine (Pinus jeffreyi). Its bark, cones, needles,sap  and wood smell like sweet, freshly-baking vanilla.  

Really, it does.  This is neither a snipe hunting, nor is it a  jackalope story.  I'm not pulling your leg. 

Actually, to be precise, it's a butterscotchy vanilla scent. Maybe with a hint of cinnamon and nuts?

Some say it smells like pineapple.  I beg to differ; I'm from Hawai`i and I know what pineapple smells like. Others say it smells like apples.  Their olfactories are more imaginative than mine.

Its crushed twigs has a scent that is likened to lemons, vanilla, and violets. Surprisingly pleasant and refreshing, this upbeat scent puts an exciting new twist on pine! The Western Gray Squirrel must enjoy this complex scent as much as I do, as they build their nests out of pine boughs and twigs in  the upper branches of Jeffrey Pines. 

I've long admired it rough bark, made up of scales that are uniquely patterned -- like a jigsaw puzzle. Click here for a great shot of this phenomenon.

This particular pine I'm sniffing has a distinctive fork in its 150-year old trunk.  At 10 years old, it is speculated, this pine was topped off by either by heavy snowfall or another tree falling right on it.

A Jeffrey Pine is identified by its long, three-needle clusters, as well as its large cones with its recurved prickles (that is, barbs that point inwardly). Hence, its nickname: "Gentle Jeffrey."

The Ponderosa pine, a non-vanilla-smelling look-alike, has cone with prickles that poke you when you hold it between your hands. Its nickname is also apt: "Prickly Ponderosa."

The Jeffrey Pine is also known as the 'gasoline tree'." Jeffrey Pine pitch, or resin, is made of a hydrocarbon known as normal heptane and is highly explosive. During the Civil War, Union manufacturers of turpine used the pitch from Ponderosa Pine. Because of the close physical similarity between Ponderosa and Jeffrey Pine, the manufacturers often mistook Jeffrey for Ponderosa. As a result, there were numerous explosions that occurred in the turpine industry. 

For all its volatility, it is a sensitive tree that suffers tremendously from air pollution and ozone-induced injury.

>> CSU Fullerton: Jeffrey Pine

We look up and scan the upper branches, hoping to spot an American Bald Eagle, America's national symbol.  Protected by laws, it is now illegal to possess even an eagle feather without a permit. 

They winter here in Big Bear Valley, and they know how to pick their roosts. Tall Jeffrey Pines by the water with open, dead branches at the top are favorite eagle perches, and they can be seen flying overhead, diving for fish or coots, or stealing fish from osprey. 

I keep hoping we'll get a glimpse of Gracie Allen and George Burns, Big Bear Valley's most famous eagles.  A breeding pair of eagles remains together year after year even returning to the same tree one year to the next and Gracie and George are regulars in our valley.

>>  Keeping an Eye on George and Gracie 

Why do these eagles come to Big Bear Lake?

They're hungry!  

They migrate from Canada, Alaska and the northern wilds when their feeding waterways freeze over. Their diet is mostly fish, birds and small mammals. 30,000 to 40,000 American coots, small duck-like birds, also spend the winter in Big Bear Valley, making our lake a very appealing winter home -- from November to April -- for the eagles.  

Coots are the eagles' meals of choice.

>> LA Times: Eagle-Eye Birding
>>  BB Discovery Center:  Our Bald Eagles
>>  BB Discovery Center:  Eagle Events

>>  Next

I  Big Bear Lake