28 April 2013
As a seasoned writer, I understand the power of the word. Truth has enormous power if it is expressed, unshackled, fostered, to do good.
Media owners are a subversive politic or an agent of goodness depending on what their goals and aspirations are. Media owners also affect the mental health of individuals, groups and nations by passing on cultures of fear and depression. Media owners wield enormous power in our society shaping wants, desires, habits, health, environmental destiny, survival.
The beautiful fragile Avocet, struggling to survive amidst enormous adversity, habitat loss. http://jorma-jyrkkanen.livejournal.com/240567.html
The best insurance we can have for human society is to practice empathy for all life and to learn to live in harmony with the same. The best insurance we can have for our species is a healthy working connected biodiverse global biosphere and its attendant ecosystems.
We have a chance now with our choices, to shape a survival story validating the fitness of intelligence into a lasting legacy of goodness. R we captives 2 base instincts, trapped by lack of imagination, lacking vision & leadership, to create a fabulous world, harmonious, alive.
What legacy will the 21st century leave? Can global civility and harmonious rationality be achieved ever? There is a convergence of limiting factors approaching, a global catastrophe, yet we wallow in our wonder as it marches ever closer.
If intelligence is evolved to increase evolutionary fitness, then we have lost sight of that program and need to get with it. I think philosophers, scientists, planners, economists, leading visionaries need to rethink humanitys' global priorities.
Copyright 2013 Jorma Jyrkkanen. All rights reserved.
27 April 2013
For about three weeks I had observed avocets hanging around a spot 20 m from an access road on the edge of the lake and wondered what they were up to. Today, Gloria put her binoculars on the spot and said, its nesting.
I took telephoto pics and sure enough, precisely. Here is the sequence. Expectant Dad and Aunty(?)
Then there is the nest with mom sitting. Note the material is collected from the salt tolerant vegetation around the shoreline.
Another view with her turned to the east.
The nest is in a high hazard area and coyotes and hawks work the shoreline and this nest is right in that line of fire. One birder saw a coyote with a duck in its mouth so it probably caught it on a nest in the cat tails to the west. Lets keep our fingers and toes crossed for this pair.
Copyright 2013 Jorma Jyrkkanen. All rights reserved.
27 April 2013
I had the great good fortune to experience a wonderful Marmot, a Stellars Jay speaking a new language, a large flock of Western grebes and the arrival of a wave of White crowned sparrows who simply do not like being looked at but will tolerate closeness if your working or putzing around.
Many are unaware that the Marmot is a member of the squirrel family that has become very successful in their particular niche and are a vital element of the food chain for eagles, coyotes, wolves, bears, members of the cat family and mustelid predators. Marmots have a large influence on the ecology of their habitat tending as they do the vegetative components. They are fun to watch, photograph and enjoy wrestling competitions and playing tag. Marmots are for the most part happy creatures and of course their ability to predict spring weather is legendary. They also have a different call for different predators. For humans its a lone whistle and for eagles its a series of sharp barks.
This lovely Jay appears to be nesting nearby in mistletoe and yesterday when he visited he gave an unusual chortle I had never heard before. I was able to mimic it and we got quite an exchange going. He was a very handsome fellow and I had never noticed the two blue pin stripes on the forehead and wonder if these are common? He seemed self aware and didn't mind me taking his picture. He seemed to know I was the source of the food in the feeder.
Check out the quality of this image. I am even impressed. Perfect.
White-crowned sparrows, being disturbed woodland nesters, have benefitted enormously from the bark beetle kill and subsequent massive Province wide clear cutting. They have become quite abundant since global warming unleashed the infestation. It has meant a proliferation of ground cover, flowering, fruiting and seed plants and because they feed on the ground mostly but are able to feed off stems, there will be abundant conifer and deciduous tree seeds as well to eat. I have noticed a decline in Golden crowned sparrows suggesting they require opposite habitat, perhaps older serial stages of regeneration.
We humans do try to emulate wonderful colours and in many ways we are birds in our souls. Check out the plumage of these two hobby cars at the coffee shop in town. Marvellous. They remind me of Lek construction by Bower Birds and in fact are probably not a bad way to capture a female for mating. Are we behaviourally governed by similar genes to Birds of Paradise and Bower birds? Compare this Jay and Magpie in a prior blog with these two cars and Hip Hop dancers and you will see what I mean.
I must say humans are Birds of Paradise in their fashion statements and dances and Bower birds in our love of colourful things and nice homes(nests). I myself like a pair of rugged red pants for hiking sometimes even though I get ribbed considerably.
Copyright 2013 Jorma Jyrkkanen. All rights reserved.
- Current Mood:
amused
24 April 2013
We met Brian at Westside and left with a crew of 24.
Brian led us to the canyon higher up the mountain and then north along ridgelines and faults often with a bit of excitement and scrambling.
A tiny bit of exposure added to the excitement. If you lose your balance easily or are affected by vertigo, or are not very fit, I do not recommend this ledge route. A slip and fall here could cause serious injury or death. Best to detour around to the north and rejoin the trail at a safe intersection.
There was a bottleneck and narrow ledge with a bit of a drop which added an element of danger and thrills.
At one point we had to crawl.
Afterlunch we headed for the canyon one tier lower down the mountain passing many climbers, a demo by PITA and I of Finnish Wife Racing and then home to civilization.
All in all a great hike. Thanks Brian.
Copyright 2013 Jorma Jyrkkanen. All rights reserved.
- Current Mood: ecstatic
26 April 2013
I, like us all, am transitory,
A metamorphosed cannibal cluster of quarks,
As old as the universe,
But todays bones are tomorrows stones,
In stratigraphy we reside,
For a goodly part of our ride,
In company of all quarks everywhere.
Look long and hard at the strata,
It holds vitally important data,
For there will be thee,
Compressed alongside of me,
Todays bones are tomorrows stones,
Marriage of commoners far and wide,
Riding the cosmic tide,
This is our common place, temporarily the human race,
From Big Bang to eternity,
In one such stripe squished in ash and sparkling radioactive elements,
Awaits a place for all humanity,
Standing here with my wonder struck eyes,
I see my heaven am already there.
Jorma Jyrkkanen,
26 April 2013
- Current Mood:
thoughtful
23 April 2013
Testing this camera for long bird shots. Started out at Brandt's Creek near Okanagan Lake on the promenade and captured a few pics starting with a male merganser.
A saucy alpha Brewers Blackbird on the railing.
Then the osprey couple on the nest resting up. She is soo proud of her hubby. Being such a good provider, builder and guard, she decides to catch a few winks knowing he will look after things and even scrap with Canada Geese if need be. She is such a girly girl and he is all dude.
A nice shot of a Ring necked male.
A juvenile eagle at Roberts Lake.
Lastly the avocets of which there were a lot fewer today, possibly due to the eagle standing right over their favourite spot. The resolution is too low to blow up this pic very much. It was shot at about 100 metres. Don't know if that is my fault or the cameras resolution.
Now to see how they turned out. I am doing a trial run to see if the Nikon 520 42X magnification makes better pics than a Canon D7. Notice that date on the camera is out by a month. Got to fix that. Main complaint so far. I had difficulty using the viewfinder to focus on small birds hopping around in the bush. Great for pole hawks and bright single birds away from focal noise. Didn't track flying swallows very well. Might have had the wrong setting. The 42X is a bonus and for those far shots, quite good. It took some nice flower pics later on at close range and they turned out lovely.
Copyright 2013 Jorma Jyrkkanen. All rights reserved.
23 April 2013
This hawk was hunting a field loaded with mole rats and meadow voles where a Prairie falcon wintered last year.
A head shot showing the curvature of the upper mandible and brown eye colour to match the melanism.
Red tailed hawks come in a wide range of colour morphs from light, the Kriders form to very dark like this Harlan's form. Because the Okanagan Valley is an important migratory stop and over winter area for them, we get to see the diversity without leaving the valley. I have seen a normal form mating with a Harlans in the Skagit Valley so they apparently have little discrimination.
Copyright 2013 Jorma Jyrkkanen. All rights reserved.
First I stopped at Maude Roxby Sanctuary which our Central Okanagan Naturalists Club helped create and got a pic to record how its doing. What do you think of her?
Then I went to see mother Great horned owl to see how her children were doing and one seemed to be missing. I wonder if it met with a mishap and fell out of the tree. The other two look just fine and one was very interested in me.
I sauntered off after coffee and found this extraordinary magpie. So common yet uncommonly beautiful.
A great workout on the bike and also a great few pics. What more could a guy ask for. By the way there are 16 Avocets at Roberts Lake according to one on our Naturalists. A photographers dream come true.
Copyright 2013 Jorma Jyrkkanen. All rights reserved.
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