Baby Sandhill Crane Pix

Too good to miss

I thought the adults were great, but the baby's just adorable. If a tiny sandhill crane shows up at Wrenaissance, I'm taking the day off from work and camping out in the wetlands with my camera.

I'm famous!

Wren brand Florida Citrus Fruits.

I hadn't been aware of this brand until my husband gave me a pillbox which had the label design on its top. Isn't it great?

People

In her post Talking to Strangers, Robin recounts her meeting fellow bloggers in person for the first time.

It's not so unusual as it may sound, as virtual communities are often strong ones, and in-person gatherings and "real-life" relationships are natural corollaries. Of course, I speak as one who met her husband online, and who has many close friendships with roots in overlapping online communities from twenty years ago. Yes, people were online back then, though only geeks and spies knew about ARPANET and BITNET, those precursors of the Internet. Some of us dialed our phones and put the handset (a concept now almost as obsolete as "dial") in the acoustic coupler and called up a local bulletin board at 300 baud. Real geeks had 1200 baud modems and talked to friends all over the world on Fidonet.

You might think that friendships born online would be least likely to change over time and distance. Not so; we began to meet in person as well as online. We had parties and happy hours and group outings. After a time, the friendships expanded to include significant others, spouses, and children. We attended each other's weddings, christenings, and bar mitzvahs. The friendships matured and deepened, and while parties and group events continued, we also became close friends with individuals and like all friends, went out to dinner and to movies and to reciprocal charitable events. We visited our friends in the hospital and cried at their funerals and tried to preserve real memories in a virtual world. These are people who know me as I am, like me for who I am, and make me laugh and think and try new things.

Just like any good friends, anywhere.

And so, when I moved to Michigan, I left many friends behind. We still exchange emails. One of our BBS systems migrated to YAHOO groups, and maintains conversations that haven't matured much in the intervening years. But we can no longer drop by for a spur of the moment dinner, we're missing this year's parties, and the kids are older and taller and prettier and smarter, and we're not there to see it.

So, if anyone tells you virtual communities aren't as good as "real" ones and virtual friends aren't 'real" friends - tell them they're wrong. Virtual holes in your life are just as big.

What is it in nature that speaks to our souls?

While I was having breakfast, uploading egret photos, and nature watching the back yard, a grackle flew overhead with a beak full of dead grass. I was thrilled to see it, and began to wonder why such an ordinary sight gave me such joy. It's easy to understand the joy of seeing the egrets. I've never before seen one in my backyard and they are intrinsically beautiful and graceful. The grackle flew overhead so quickly, there was no time to appreciate its irridesence, no pause to reflect on the signs of spring, nest building, new life, continuity ... just a moment of happiness in response to the ordinary.

Perhaps such self reflection works better in the afternoon, with glasses of wine, than in the morning fueled by coffee, because I came to no conclusion. I just know that this connection to nature - however tenuous, however fleeting - brings with an awareness of beauty and a connection to the greater world. With that connection comes happiness, peace, and joy.

Friday night visitors

And what's more

The egrets have flown, but I'm still overwhelmed with sights and sounds. The frogs, reclaiming the creek, are even louder. The robins, blackbirds, grackles, and golfers are in full voice as well (pay no attention to that man on the cart ...), and the mourning doves are cooing softly in the background, barely audible above all the clamor of the great outdoors.

In the past hour, in addition to the egrets, I've seen a killdeer, a vulture, a hawk (accipiter sp.), grackles, robins, a pair of finches building a nest, two chickadees, mallards in groups of two and three, mourning doves, countless male blackbirds, the swimming groundhog, and two goldfinches playing arial tag.

Update: The bluebird of happiness came by later and perched on the snag, followed shortly by the old grey (Canada) goose.

Wow!

As I type this, I'm watching three beautiful great egrets out back. One of them is stalking something in the creek, so far unsucessfully, but I am in awe of his grace as he seeks his prey.

It's a beautiful day - sunny, just warm enough, and not too windy. The frogs are in full voice, despite the close proximity of the predator. The sparrows, blackbirds, and finches flit about the yard. I am glad I am inconsequential in the shadow of the deck, as this as near to perfect as life can be.

Congratulations, Pablo

Lake Marguerite is full of water! It's even using the overflow drain. How cool is that?

The Plot Thickens

Welcome a new contributor to the community of bloggers, The Plot Thickens: a new blog from the "associate director of the University of Michigan's Matthaei Botanical Gardens & Nichols Arboretum."

I know many of us within driving distance of Ann Arbor love the Arb and Gardens (yes, Cindy, I'm talking to you!).

Planet Earth

Is anyone else watching the Planet Earth series on the Discovery Channel? Five minutes into the first episode I had decided to buy the DVD as soon as it's available.

inukshuk

inukshuk: 1) a milestone or directional marker used by the Inuit of the Canadian Arctic 2) a new word I learned from kerredelune in her comment on my post yesterday. I love words and language, so a new addition to my vocabulary is a joy in and of itself. In addition, however, her comment and Floridacracker's post both struck a chord with me.

"The perfect is the enemy of the good." How often have I told myself that there was no point in doing something because it was so small an effort? or was mainly symbolic? Listening to my inner cynic meant that a small step that would have made a small difference didn't happen.

Perfectionism is a seductive trap. It may remain beyond my abilities to single-handedly change the entire world, but if I can make it better in one part, or for one person, plant, or animal, then the world is in fact a better place.

Where is spring when you need it?

You may be tired of blogs about winter and snow. I know I am! But it's not as easy as "just say no to snow." This unseasonable weather is taking a toll, physically and psychologically.

Cindy at WoodSong - Off the Beaten Path writes Migrants Taking a Cold Beating and worries about the birds and other wildlife who cannot find sufficient food or warmth in this weather.

The Ann Arbor News printed a photo of a robin pulling a worm out of the ground in the snow, with the caption "Frozen food." Jimmy, at Details of Nature, offers a similar picture sans worm in Word of the Day! but doesn't say if the word's "robin" or "snow." Maybe bird is the word?

Although her post's title is recently read or seen - and enjoyed, Bev at Burning Silo opens with a photo and discussion of the unseasonable weather. Her word for it is "tiresome" and with it she captures the feeling we all have about this mess.

In The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: a Birder's Tale in three Parts, Jochen of Bell Tower Birding promises no more posts about the weather, which he didn't let prevent him from birding.

Colleen, of In the Garden Online, writes about the challenges of this cold and snow for gardeners in Now I Have Faith. Fortunately, she was successful in nuturing her sproutlings, so check out her post for ideas and insight if you're trying to start something growing despite the weather.

In an Iowa Garden, Don observes A Shaft Of Sunlight On A Snowy Day. While this is a basically cheerful post about the yellowing of goldfinches as a sign of spring, the s-word is still involved.

And me? I've run out of words for snow, and thus I share with you the comments of my colleagues.

It seemed like a good idea at the time

and sometimes it still does, as robin notes in her post, Dharma Bums: 48 Degrees 03' North; 122 Degrees 47' West. Snow in mid-Arpil was enough to make us think all the hecklers were right and that we were crazy to move north - until we learned that my parents in Virginia and inlaws in Cleveland all got more snow and colder temperatures than we did here.

Even if the relative amounts of snow were reversed, it only takes a glance out the window or a drive downtown to remember why it seemed like a good idea, and still does.

Robin expresses it more eloquently than I do, and besides, she has great otter pix. Go read, and think about the reasons you love your place.

Another day, another blackbird

I hate to admit it, but ....

... it really is pretty. It's looked like we lived inside a snow globe most of the week, and the light dusting of white on all the landscape was kind of nice this morning. The prettiest of all was the less than 1/2 inch accumulation.

Amazing Resilience

It would be hard to believe this, if it weren't reported by a trustworthy source: Dharma Bums: One Bird, Again.

I like survivors and fighters, the scrappy little mutts that take on the world and triumph over the odds. So here's to Robin's robin, and his examplification of fortitude.

Red-throated loon » Graf Nature Photography; Notes from the woods

I asked a colleague this morning if she ever saw loons at her lake front home, and was disappointed when the answer was in the negative. By coincidence, I saw Mark's photo of a Red-throated loon at his blog, Graf Nature Photography; Notes from the woods as soon as I got home tonight.

I've been watching the Planet Earth series on TV (it's fabulous, but that's a differnet post)and enjoying the short trailers at the end that go behind the scenes and explain how the series was made. It's clear to me that my fondness of central heat and indoor plumbing is a barrier to world renown as a nature photographer. While Mark was taking pictures of loons in sub-freezing weather, I was complaining under my breath about the 1/2 block walk from car to office (uphill both ways!).

Audubon, Part 2

A few weeks ago, I blogged about the start of our golf club's quest for Audubon certification as a wildlife habitat (It takes a village). I missed the second meeting, and just got the minutes. As I hoped, I'm working on the outreach subcommittee. I see another blog in my future!

Our initial brainstorming session a few weeks ago produced some wonderful ideas - outreach should be a slam dunk. Nice weather, nature, golf: what's not to like in a state with the 2nd highest number of golf courses in the country (after Hawaii, or so I'm told)?

Guess what was in my backyard this morning?

This is the best sighting on my yard list in my entire life - bumping the previous #1, a red-tailed hawk to second place.