ONE OF MANY BIRDS FROM MY COSTA RICA TRIP
Author: wren
As a blogger returning after a multi-year hiatus, I am widening the focus of my blog to include not just nature, but food, friends, travel, knitting, and general thoughts. I don't know quite where I'm going yet, but I'm looking forward to getting there.
SPECIES CLOSE TO HOME – PHOTOS FROM NYTIMES.COM
Those of you who share my interest in making backyards and other suburban spaces wildlife-friendly will enjoy this photo series from the New York Times, Species Close to Home. Times readers from around the world sent in photos of interesting or unusual animals they saw in their backyards. Some photos are wonderful photography and all share a love of animals and nature.
HAZY SUMMER DAYS
I took this photo in June, but the same hot and heavy weather is still with us in August. I imagine I can see the heat being gently exhaled by the earth and water behind us, rising up to surround everything and everyone outside
TRANSIT OF VENUS
I had a great time observing the not-again-in-my-lifetime Transit of Venus earlier this month. Detroit Observatory is just a couple of blocks from my office, so as well as seeing the transit, I also made a much-overdue visit there and saw the historic telescope.
WHY EBIRD?
I’ve long resisted entering my observations in eBird. Too much trouble, too restrictive a format, and I don’t need all those fields – I just want a record of what species I’ve seen. Only compulsive listers would keep records that intense.
What’s changed my mind? Partly practical considerations: Birdstack has closed, and I haven’t found listing software for the Mac that I like. Partly a belief that the world around us is changing as a result of human behavior, and that it’s important to address that change with a positive, effective response.
The article that inspired this post, Early Bloomers, was in today’s New York Times online. A thoughtful piece, referencing and comparing Thoreau’s observations in the 1850′s with current bloom times and local species to reflect on the changes that come with urbanization and climate change.
The authors of the Times article,RICHARD B. PRIMACK, ABRAHAM J. MILLER-RUSHING, and BECCA STADTLANDER, note “Despite their dramatic cumulative effects over the last 160 years, these changes would be largely imperceptible without the biological yardstick Thoreau’s records provide.”
While I might wish to write like Thoreau, a more achievable goal is to provide a record of what I observe in a less literary form. I’m honored that eBird wants my data. In addition to not being a poet or essayist, I’m neither scientist nor expert birder. The memory of what I’ve seen and loved in the natural world would vanish without a trace. However, even if I can’t preserve the poetry, I can do this small thing to preserve the world.
LIVING IN A SNOW GLOBE WORLD
You’ve heard of “water off a duck’s back”? Snow doesn’t think it’s water.
Big, slow flakes swirling around rewind me of snow globes. This must be what it’s like to be inside one, except the snow doesn’t get recycled. And nobody’s shaking our world.
Big bird gets cold feet.
DEFYING WINTER
Not the flowers – this photo was taken back in August – but me, defying the gray days by showing the bright orange petals overcoming the drab background.
