Three eagles

Soaring

“Farewell,” they cried, “Wherever you fare till your eyries receive you at the journey’s end!”  That is the polite thing to say among eagles.

“May the wind under your wings bear you where the sun sails and the moon walks,” answered Gandalf, who knew the correct reply.

~ J. R. R. Tolkien, The Annotated Hobbit:  The Hobbit, Or, There and Back Again

Two of three

I can’t believe I forgot The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings trilogy when I was listing books yesterday!  Today, of course, is the release date for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.  I’m going to be patient and wait to see it because we might be able to catch it at an IMAX theater over the holidays.  Patience is not easy.  I’m the nerd who went to see the marathon showing of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy when the third film came out.  It started at 1:00 in the afternoon, and ended around 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning.  That was a lot of sitting!  Thankfully there were breaks.

In the great blue sky

But I didn’t come here to post about movies today.  I want to tell you about the amazing display I saw this morning.  Three Bald Eagles were soaring over the meadow and the woods at the front of the property, chattering and whistling at each other.  I spent about an hour watching them.  Most of the time they were not within range of my camera’s capabilities to capture them well (hence, the blurry pictures).

Being chased

At one point, a couple of ravens went after one of the eagles, chasing it out of its territory.  It was funny to watch as the smaller birds chased the big one.

I also saw an assortment of other birds, too.  They must be enjoying the sunny day as much as I am.

Turkey Vulture

There were plenty of Turkey Vultures riding the thermals.

Little Bird

I saw a variety of little birds too.  I’m dreadful at identifying most birds.  If you have names for them and want to pass them on, please do so.  Otherwise, I may have to start making stuff up.  I’m kidding.  But Little Bird is getting tired of me calling all of the little birds Little Bird.

Eastern Bluebirds are easy to identify

Naming things is always implicitly categorizing and therefore collecting them, attempting to own them; and because man is a highly acquisitive creature, brainwashed by most modern societies into believing that the act of acquisition is more enjoyable than the fact of having acquired, that getting beats got, mere names and the objects they are tied to soon become stale.  There is a constant need, or compulsion, to seek new objects and names — in the context of nature, new species and experiences.  Everyday ones grow mute with familiarity, so known they become unknown.  And not only in nature:  only fools think our attitude to our fellow-men is a thing distinct from our attitude to ‘lesser’ life on this planet.

~ John Fowles, The Tree

Little Bird II

I just finished reading The Tree, John Fowles essay on art and nature.  It was an interesting read.  Fowles opines that the naming of things leads to a separation between us and all that is nature, that it “destroys or curtails certain possibilities of seeing, apprehending, and experiencing.”

Who’s that?

If you fancy yourself a naturalist and/or lover of nature, or even if you don’t, I highly recommend the book.  It’s less than 100 pages.  I thought I’d finish it in a day, but it took me about a week because I had to frequently stop and ruminate on what I’d read.

I’m ignoring you now.

As long as nature is seen as in some way outside us, frontiered and foreign, separate, it is lost both to us and in us.  The two natures, private and public, human and non-human, cannot be divorced; any more than nature, or life itself, can ever be truly understood vicariously, solely through other people’s eyes and knowledge.

~ John Fowles

Who are you?

So maybe it’s a good thing that I don’t spend too much time worrying over the names and labels.  I’m happy just getting to know what’s out there on the Wabi-Sabi Ranch.  I tend to forget names easily, anyhow.

I’m hiding. You can’t see me!

That should do it from the Wabi-Sabi Ranch for today.  Thank you for visiting, and going on a little bird-watching walk with me.  The birds are friendly around here, although there are still quite a few shy gals and guys hiding in the woods and thickets.  The Cardinals, as usual, refuse to pose for the camera, but that’s okay.  They’ll come around eventually.

M and I were supposed to visit with friends in Annapolis this weekend, but our plans changed and we’ll be staying home.  It’s just as well.  We have a lot to do around the house and property.  Saturday will be indoor work since there’s rain in the forecast.  Sunday we might drive out to the special place we didn’t get to visit last weekend.  How about you?  Do you have any plans for the weekend?

All he needs is a little snow and we could name him the Holiday Mockingbird.

Be good, be kind, be loving.  Just Be!  And have a great weekend.  🙂