Cormorants. My Spirit Bird. DK Photo at 10 a.m., on Weed Avenue in Stamford, CT. More photos from this morning’s walk here.
Ethereal moments on Sunday morning. Believe now?
Tag: Birds
Walking. With a Sign?
Can you find the Canada Goose in the shot above? I’ll wait until you find it. Yes, there. The speck, bottom right. Hold that thought.
It’s Thursday, 1514 consecutive (almost) days on this morning daybreak walk at Cove Island Park. Like in a row.
I step into the park. It’s dark.
I walk.
I’ve had a flurry of chatter around me about Signs.
They see signs in the spotting of Cardinals, Blue Jays, Feathers, Hearts, Sparrows, Robins, and even Moths.
Don’t you see it DK? There!
I’ve grown up. (A little.) I stare quietly, body language not giving anything up, offering a look of contemplation. The thought process having evolved from “are you kidding me, you don’t really believe that, do you? aka George Carlin style: Religion: A Bullshit Story.
Continue reading “Walking. With a Sign?”Swans: How do they stay so white? Spit & Sparkle…
Swans are the gentle giants of my local waterways: floating paragons of snowy serenity that cruise peacefully through muddy brown water amid the rowdy confusion of their smaller brethren.
And they present a puzzle. Around them, mallards, Egyptian geese and Mandarin ducks have plumage so varied that it seems like any little speck of dirt or grime would disappear into the design. But the swans, paddling around in water so opaque that their feet can’t be seen, tip their tail feathers high in the air to forage underwater for the deepest plants—yet they re-emerge an unreasonably pure white. How do they stay so clean?
[…]
Just as a swan uses an oily coating to repel water, to get rid of oil it needs a watery coating. And the answer—discovered only three years ago in a paper published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials—is saliva. A swan’s spit is full of proteins that have a water-loving end and an oil-loving end. Once in a while, the bird distributes saliva on its feathers instead of preen oil, and the oil-loving ends stick to the feathers, leaving the water-loving ends exposed.
This makes the feathers attractive to water, and so allows the watery saliva to penetrate deep into the feathers. Once it’s there, it finds channels lined with tiny wedges. The wedge shapes help surface tension push the water from the center of the feather to the edges, sweeping along and clearing out any tiny droplets of oil or fat on the way.
The feathers get a watery deep cleaning as the tiniest oily contaminants are carried away. After a while, air dries the saliva out, and the surface returns to its normal water-hating state while the swan is restored to its pristine purity.
It’s a fascinating system, and scientists and engineers are now trying to replicate it to make self-cleaning fabrics that we could use. But kudos to the swan, for having evolved the perfect spit-and-sparkle system for keeping itself clean.
Read full article here.
— Helen Czerski, from “How Swans Stay White in Muddy Waters” (Wall Street Journal, June 6, 2024)
DK Photo: May 31, 2023. 4:30 am. Cove Island Park, Stamford, CT. More photos of the swans from that morning here.
Tuesday Morning
Tuesday morning @ 5:39 am @ Cove Island Park. 55° F. (Audio control – bottom left.)
More photos from this morning’s walk here.
Post inspired by Paul Lynch from the Prophet Song: “The birds will always inhabit the earth, the birds calling the dawn.”
Walking. With Ellie.
Good morning from Connecticut. Today, makes it 1,467 consecutive (almost) days on this daybreak morning walk at Cove Island Park. Like in a Row.
We were primed for another rant following last week’s diatribe: “Ladies Give Me Your Best Shot.” All the targeted Ladies (aka Sawsan) went scurrying back to her Den (with her Broom). Her replacement, while not an total embarrassment, is on her way to earning that merit badge shortly.
So, there’s one Lady left standing. I asked Susan if I can share more specifics about her OCD, that being her neuroses with light switches at the top and bottom of the stairs. Wally and I got a hostile reaction, and decided that this was a red line not to be tested.
I walk, wandering, ruminating. What shall we blog about today? Is it…
- How I gained 10 lbs in 10 days? (Cake!)
- How my insomnia has progressively deteriorated during the same period? (Cake?)
- Why my Doctored-ordered Glucose test (a pre-diabetic alert) reported an alarming upward trend? (Cake?)
I walk.
I noodle these issues (and others), feeling the weight of their drag.
Continue reading “Walking. With Ellie.”