This Yellow Shafted Flicker, as the name implies, has a very distinctive marking…the shafts on it’s feathers, and the underside of the wings, are a bright yellow. You can’t miss it when it’s flying around the backyard. Flickers are actually in the woodpecker family and they make a great, colorful addition, around the bird feeders. … Read more
Some say the middle child is always the rambunctious one. I’m not really sure about that but if I had to guess in this case they are probably right. While the other three swans were calm and composed, the one of the right never stopped fidgeting, flapping, and being an amusing, and ever-lovable, disturbing element.
But flies an eagle flight, bold and forth on, leaving no track behind. – William Shakespeare
As the sun sets behind this farm in Iowa, not far from where I live, I can’t help but think it’s symbolic of our times. There’s no question that over the years, particularly those from the early 1980’s on, we’ve seen a notable reduction in the family farm. It’s hard to make ends meet in farming. When you rely on things as fickle as the weather, and commodity prices…well, you’re working with some pretty volatile things.
Some of my high school friends, their families, more specifically, ran small farms. I worked on a few…bailing hay mostly…it didn’t seem all that fun then. But it was purposeful. And although the work could be hard, hot, sweaty, and dusty…you knew you accomplished something at the end of the day. It was the first place I learned, that with every day, there was always something productive that could be done.
I miss these family farms. I think our country is the lesser for them not being here in great abundance.
As you watch Bald Eagles go through their daily routines, habits, and flight patterns, you’re left with moments of extremes. Winter eagles can do a lot of sitting around. But it’s not out of laziness. It’s to conserve vital energy that will only be sustained by ample food.
This isn’t to say you’ll never see eagles fly around…some fly a lot more than others, but I think the wise old ones are judicious about it. They sit and rest a lot, and then go to town when they need to find something to eat.
So this leads us to the other extreme of eagle behaviors. In flight they can be powerful, agile, wickedly fast for a large bird, and when hunting, they will twist and dive, getting the perfect angle on a fish below…they make a final run in, feet hanging down, wings buffeting the winds and controlling every angle of descent, until they pluck the fish from the water in one, quick strike.
Many people love to get the birds, pulling fish from the water…it’s the ultimate shot in this action sequence. I feel the same way of course but I also like to catch them at the very beginning of their hunting run…and that often includes a dramatic wingover like this one. It’s a way to curb speed and direct their forward flight, downward, and ultimately in any fine-tuned direction they need to go. I think I have come to enjoy the wingovers more than any other move they make these days…I loo for them all the time and am happy when I catch one that looks this good.
I have to admit, every time I’m blessed to see a dramatic sunset in Muscatine, I’m reminded of Mark Twain and his commentary, that after working here, early on in his journalistic career, he always remembered Muscatine for it’s sunsets. If you have to be remembered for something, beautiful sunsets are not a bad way to go.
If I were to get more specific, for me, fall and some early winter sunsets seem to be more vibrant and captivating. They are a final goodbye to fall and a last, color bursting tribute, before the dull gray days of winter set in for awhile.
Prairie Fire captured one of those lingering, magical sunsets, with some natural grasses providing an interesting foreground. It makes me think at times of the westward seekers, the pioneers and settlers, looking for faith or fortune in the great plains and beyond. I suspect they were captivated by the sunsets at times too.