on the wing

It amazes me how quickly birds go from downy blobs with beaks to fledged and flying. I located this nest one week ago and all four young were slightly feathered fuzz pops. This morning not a bird in the nest!

I met local photographer Tom Munson this morning at the nest site and we spent a couple hours capturing the fledgelings in action (him shooting, I drinking coffee). It was fascinating: the merlins, the photography -- all well worth the five a.m. alarm.

I find myself, here, emotionally attached to these merlins who do not acknowledge my existence, and who shouldn't, for they have no reason. I am neither provider, protector, nor threat. To them I am nothing.

To me however, they are everything. In that moment when they fill my binoculars, or fly inches from my outstretched arm (as one did by chance this morning), they represent everything that sustains, everything that gives life -- the good earth in which we live. Yes, IN.

If modern civilization has done anything, it has turned its back on the very thing that sustains it. Like a fortress built on matchsticks, it projects a sense of advancement, security, superiority. All on a foundation that could crumble. We have put distance between us and the natural world. (Want proof? Why do we have to refer to the world in which we live as natural?) This distance, this unconnectedness scares me. It is the voice that says, "Killing animals is cruel, I am a vegetarian." Very nice, thank you. Driving your car kills animals, turning on the light kills animals, eating your tofu kills animals, buying your jeans kills animals. However, habitat encroachment, the use of pesticides, pollution, dams, etc: at least these things kill at a distance, a distance that makes our vegetarian friend comfortable...and part of the problem.

The world in which we live? That's right. Its a living, breathing, wonderful thing. We do not sit on top of it unaffected by it as our society would have us believe. We are all a part of it, integral members who's actions can be felt by all who share it. I am learning to share it, to share it with these beautiful little falcons, who are not cognizant of my existence, but who are affected by all I do.

what I've been watching...

An active merlin nest in Spokane! I located this nest a few days ago after seeing merlins in the neighborhood for a couple weeks. They appear to be taiga merlins (Falco columbarius benderi) and have four young in the nest. I've talked with a few other local falconers and nobody seems to recall a merlin nest ever documented in town. I contacted Fish and Wildlife, but have yet to hear back.

These little buggers are entertaining. Like half-pint gyrfalcons, they race across the sky with flair and seem to catch game with ease. They have also been wonderfully 'kakky' around the nest, though not as vocal as I would have expected.

The young are growing fast and have taken to hopping about branches and enjoying the warmth of the sun. They are feathering out rapidly and will probably be testing their wings soon. Its been quite a joy to watch them.

beginnings...middle...

I created this blog to act as a kind of crack in the fence, a glimpse into my life, or rather to those things in my life which I find life-giving. It is rather unorganized. My hope is that the pieces will fall into place and as they do a bit of mosaic might emerge, offering you a taste of what I like to savor in life and a sense of the hidden wholeness of it all.

Ah, not to be cut off,

not through the slightest partition

shut out from the law of the stars.

The inner, what is it?

If not the intensified sky,

hurled through with birds and

deep with the winds of homecoming.

rainer maria rilke