My thanks to Lyanda Lynn Haupt for the book that reminded me to honor my original inspiration: the crow. It’s because of a crow that I became who I am. My mother arrived home one day with a juvenile crow in a box. I was just a kid, fourteen or so. Mom was dropping my…
Reflected Reversed
A figment of light, reflected in liquid sun . . . an ephemeron of a rabbit hole, then painted over with evening mist. Or: just another wet afternoon in Seattle. The Photos: Reflections of the city shot in large puddles, then spun 180º for the rabbit hole effect. Treated slightly with color contrast and a…
Sandy Shorebill
At this point in my California life, I’d be chugging caffeine before the sun comes up, and getting to my favorite shorebird sanctuaries and mudflats as the light turns magenta rose …
Goose + Water
Feathers are such critical components of a bird’s flight, insulation and general survival, it’s no surprise they have meticulous spa routines. The bathing helps remove dirt and parasites, the preening helps reset the feather barbs. Most birds also coat the feathers with protective oil from the uropygial gland. We came upon a small family of…
Ice Ducks
Here’s my segue from Winter Water . . . to the semi-graceful form of winter ducks. The snow is gone, but I still froze my fingers into Rocket Pops, snapping pics of these ducks navigating their own version of tundra. Unlike me, the ducks kept their digits warm, thanks to the ingenious countercurrent circulation system…
A Cutthroat Trout’s Haiku (Winter Water)
Swim in mottled waves Warmed in frost, cooled in amber Iceberg is your world ~ A Cutthroat Trout’s Haiku (by Ingrid Taylar)
CSI: Fish Count
I’ve been monitoring the fish happenings at our local beach — the official “Fish Count” of returning salmon. I knew this park years ago when my family lived close by. It was a figment then of what it’s now become, restored to encourage Coho and Chum salmon to return up creek and spawn. The habitat…
Texturizing a Storm
Memory is quite central for me. Part of it is that I like the actual texture of writing through memory. ~ Kazuo Ishiguro I saw a crow yesterday, seized in midair by a gale. Just five feet from her tree, she paddled against the swell like a swimmer in an Endless Pool. I may not…
A Budding Amphipodologist
Chris Anderson said it back in 2004: The Internet has a long tail . . . so long, in fact, that a person can leap from being a writer one day, to a budding amphipodologist the next. This may not be the anecdote Anderson had in mind when he wrote about the long tail….
A Murder of Crows
My friend Britta turned me on to this PBS Nature special: A Murder of Crows. It’s a fascinating and touching look at crow intelligence. It’s also heartbreaking in spots, as it covers the crows’ adaptation to us and our antagonism toward them. Crows share some of our traits — traits which allow them to adapt…