Except as noted, all images copyrighted by and should be attributed to E B Hawley.
I had become many eons ago a traveling literary gnome, inquisitive about places I had and had not visited,
walking the same paths of peoples from the past, through places once grand and still grand,
photographing images that now show me the places about which I still dream . . .

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Counting Birds Through the Fog

  
        Fog covered Lake Wichita as we arrived for the annual bird count at the cove near Wild Bird Rescue.  We participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count.

Through the fog we perceived pelicans on the calm surface of the lake.

A beaver swam around the cove. 

A Master Naturalist brought out his binoculars to begin the count.

Pelicans, buffleheads, goldeneyes . . . spotted through the fog.

Two buffleheads, a mallard, and a coot on the surface. 

         The surface of the lake remained peaceful throughout the morning, despite the occasional landings of incoming pelicans, as shown below. . . they managed to land with hardly a splash. Here I show them a moment or two before touchdown.



           Eventually the fog lifted and we could see more of the lake, including several Great Blue herons on the other side.  Highlights of the count at Lake Wichita included a Downy woodpecker and the numerous beautiful ducks, such as the Ruddy.

      And then friendly Ben scampered up to greet us. Fortunately, Ben wore a collar with his identification. Penny phoned the owner while Terry attempted to control the excited dog. Well, I get very excited too when I make new friends. 


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Let Lovely Turn of Phrase Begin

JMHawley Gave Me a Kiss to Build a Dream On

Listen, will you? I think that . . . literature, poetry, music and love make the world go round . . . while mathematics explains things; I fill my life with them, then go walking in snowy woods.
Let us go then, you and I
like two etherized patients floating
through life, together feeling prufrockian.
DDB Jr. makes my world go 'round; during his absence, Pachelbel fills it up.
One summer I sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, then through the Gulf of Finland to reach Saint Petersburg; I pursued Joseph Brodsky in its alley ways. I dream of making that two summers.
I read “Biking to Electra;” found my way in a Jaguar car, and glanced at the flashing steel grasshoppers at sunset. I’ll follow K.O.P.’s footsteps after he followed N.Scott Momaday’s; find warmth and inspiration on a rainy mountain.
Throw chinese coins for the I Ching.
Save the whales, the spotted owl, the woman in toil.
Cast a fly for trout; my memories of fly fishing under the sunny blue Colorado sky remain; I yearn to build more . . . with more trophy Browns.
Listen for the swan’s calls on the Baltic Sea. Feel KKII's joy, his arms spread wide in Yazilikaya.
Good night, Jimmy Durante, where ever you are.