19 nests

lots of nesting going on here. late january is historically the coldest time of the year in minnesota. so i’m waiting it out by the fire in a wool blanket reading about art and italy and sunburned shoulders and negroni sipping and hand-rolled cigarettes and warm olives and whining vespas, and…clearly @sjrhoffman and i need to find a temporary little nest in italy after our youngest heads off to college this fall.

collection of abandoned and storm damaged bird nests

beautiful details

the details on this image please me. the way the two needles bundles are sheathed in what looks like thin waxed string in a gorgeous chocolate brown. the way the needles each form a half circle, so that the pair bundle is perfectly round. the copper color of the needles themselves (or would you cal it auburn?). it’s all so rich and textured. and hiding in plain sight.

red pine needle sheathes (or fascicles)

making my own sunshine

the last two weeks of january are historically the coldest weeks of the year in minnesota. so, when i saw these gold and yellow bits floating around in various specimen boxes, i gathered them together and made my own sunshine. i can feel the warmth. can you?

my spirit bird

i have been crawling through my archive trying to put together a proposal for a STILL book. as a result i found this unpublished photo of a great blue heron. i came across this guy, trailside in winter. probably too old to fly south. he was frozen, but otherwise in tact. look at the elegant dexterity in that foot. the great blue heron is my favorite bird. they arrive very early in spring, when the lakes are still mostly frozen. then stake out their personal fishing grounds. we almost always have one who chooses our long boardwalk as his or her private fishing platform for the summer. they nest in large colonies called heronries (a more specific term than “rookery”) that are isolated from human disturbance.  i think i know where there is one near me. but i don’t tell anyone about it. only my hiking partner knows about it. every evening in summer, when our heron wraps up his day of fishing , i am awed by the tremendous volume of his wing span as he effortfully lifts himself up out of the cattails and glides over our house to go join his family, and the rest of the colony, for the evening where there is safety in numbers. magnificent.

great blue heron 

just my favorites

a few of my favorite bits from the larger desert assemblage. that crazy corkscrew bit is the fruit of the mesquite tree. and the gray bit to the left of it is an ocotillo cactus skeleton. such incredible specimens i’d never find here in the north. any desert natives know what that green-leafed plant is with the seeds that look like eucalyptus?  i feel like a kid with a new toy. what a delight it was to walk around a new place with eyes wide open.

collected desert flora: fruits of the screwbean mesquite tree, ocotillo cactus skeleton, live oak acorn and cap,