Hi Tweets,

Gerald Hamilton writes:

>a couple of Cinnamon Teals

Starting their move, finally.

>Again,
>nothing extraordinary during during this quieter period between the
>departure of the winter migrants, and the arrival of the migrant and
>summer resident songbirds.

Watching the emergence of the colors of an Alternate plumage through the
bird's drabber Basic plumage on just about any bird is extraordinary.
Watching and hearing a first-winter male sparrow experimenting with what
will eventually be its territorial song is extraordinary. Watching two or
three thousand distant scaup on their way to a feeding area, reflecting the
evening sunlight so they collectively look like thousands of stars in panic
flight is extraordinary. Considering the likely mileage he's putting on to
and from each year, saying hello to an old pal such as the male Tufted Duck
Aythya fuligula back for his fourth winter at Lost Lagoon is extraordinary.
A starling in the light close-up is extraordinary. That there's any birds
left after the cats, dogs, towers, pesticides, clear-cutting, development,
oil-spills we've unleashed on them is extraordinary. The extraordinary is
all around you. But, yes, sometimes the species count drops a bit this time
of year.

>I keep praising my Creator for
>creating the mydrids of winged fowls that sing symphonies for me as I
>stroll the fields and thickets. It sure carries me away from the clatter
>and screeches of conveyors and machinery at my work-a-day world, and
>draws me closer to my Creator.

Fascinating, isn't it? Where the average bird is currently afizz with
hormones and aggression, and each bird's song a hormone-driven territorial
threat of war and/or a plea for sexual attention, we humans imbue these same
utterances with a serenity and a religiosity the bird not only couldn't
grasp but could never experience, as such would be antithetical to the
bird's purpose in singing in the first place. Extraordinary. '-)

Michael Price A brave world, Sir,
Vancouver BC Canada full of religion, knavery and change;
mprice at mindlink.net we shall shortly see better days.
Aphra Behn (1640-1689)