For swan-lovers only
An interesting Diane Rehm program about birds and birds singing and such.
David Rothenberg: "Why Birds Sing" (Basic Books)Birds make some of the most beautiful sounds in nature. But scientists don't really know why birds sing. Diane and author/musician David Rothenberg talk about the mystery of bird song. We'll also hear about the reappearance of the ivory-billed woodpecker.
It is especially timely as it is nesting season here in Karlskrona. As we were out paddling Sunday night and monday morning, we saw hundreds of ducklings and loonlings, and swans nesting (I can't wait until they hatch as I have never seen a baby swan before). In the morning, countless huge flocks of geese passed by overhead on their way north, and seagulls attacked me (well, they just buzzed me really close) because I was unwittingly standing too close to their eggs. We saw a bald eagle from afar, and kites a-plenty. Too bad I never have my camera out when I am on the water anymore since I broke my old Panasonic Lumix by getting it wet one too many times (weep with me Nils). I'm not about to ruin the D70 the same way.
I am incredibly happy and confident about our thesis now. More than I have been in the past few weeks. Although I was never dis-satisfied, after the presentation of several other thesis defenses today, I found it encouraging that not once, not twice, but three (more I think, but I was not counting) times, either the advisory team or the other students made comments referring to how our project would inform theirs. It is only natural I suppose, considering that no matter whether they are doing a project about companies, communities, or even the entire world, everything boils down to individual people and the choices we make every day.
I have to admit that there have been times that I have thought perhaps looking at individuals is a little pointless, since we are all just living in an unsustainable system... what can we really do on our own? What impact can one person have? The presentations, however, confirmed my original thinking when deciding on a topic, that is that even if the "direct" impact of a single person does not even appear on the radar of world-changing actions when compared with, say, a large corporation making a purchasing decision based on sustainability, thus influencing the entire supply chain, that action must always start with a person taking the initiative to build up to and promote it within the company.
Sorry for so many swan photos today. I just couldn't decide which ones I liked best, so I posted them all. (And yes, I do realize that I was a little to over eager with the photoshop for some of them)
Comments
I think you know my position on birds (i.e. that they are evil). Despite your pretty pictures, I would urge you not to become lulled into a false sense of security.
I refer you specifically to the following story from CNN today:
Swooping grackles attack Houston residents
'This is a very Hitchcock kind of story'
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/05/18/birds.attack.ap/index.html
Posted by: Jennifer | May 19, 2005 09:26 AM
First, I love the swan photos. I actually browsed through them a few days ago and wondered how you would narrow those down. All the photos from the camping trip are excellent. Sometimes it can be very hard with Photoshop to decide where to stop. I often end up with an early version of a photo and one that has been through the Photoshop ringer, then can't decide which to post. And I like what you did in Photoshop with the swan pics, the contrast is nice, did you replace color on the water?.
Second, our local NPR station finally picked up the Diane Rehm show so I can now listen to it in the car, and even though I'm not in a car a lot, it's still a treat. Adding the show has helped their fundraising tremendously over the previous straight classical format that followed Morning Edition.
Third, I recently dropped my digital camera in the lake as I was getting into my boat. I took some shots before getting into the kayak, and in my rush to get going, somehow forgot to put it back in the drybag. Then "splash". I couldn't believe that I could be that careless with a camera on the water. That would have been it for my kayaking photos because I can't afford to mow through digital cameras, but miracuously the Kodak came back to life a few weeks later after being very, very dead. But whenever the moisture finally kills it, that will mark the end, I'll be taking my photos from dry ground too.
Posted by: Delane | May 19, 2005 10:12 PM