The Future of Elephants
This is my favorite moment in Sri Lanka. When I went to Sri Lanka, I didn’t know much about the country. But I knew that, more than anything else, I wanted to see one of my favorite animals: elephants. Wild elephants, in their jungle habitat. This picture was taken at the Elephant Transit Home, a rehabilitation center for injured and orphaned elephants. These three youngsters were never more than a few inches away from each other. They pushed each other around, nudging each other with their heads, scuffling like puppies. They constantly caressed each other, holding trunks like children...
Read MoreQueen Anne’s Lace: Carrots and Butterflies
No, the train isn’t barrelling down the track here. The weeds growing up through the railroad tracks and under the wheels show how many months or even years it’s been since this train went anywhere. Railroad tracks are interesting little habitats. They cut, straight as an arrow, through cities, meadows, forests, mountains. Back in the days when people first built railroads all across the country, the rail embankments were the first road for plants to travel. Dozens, even hundreds of species of plants moved along the tracks–not puffing along at sixty miles an hour like the...
Read MoreTo Feed a Mockingbird
Another day, another parking lot. Now this might not look like a National Park or anything. But I drove into this parking lot in Guilderland, NY the other day, parked, and sat there thinking about nothing in particular for a minute. And in sixty seconds flat I had observed three gray squirrels, a flock of starlings, and a mockingbird. I’m no great birder, but I’m sure it was a mockingbird—big gray bird, long graceful tail, and a white flash under the wings as it flew into the bushes. Mockingbirds increasingly winter here in New York State, and they love thickets and scrub and berries....
Read MoreCold Winter Day
A cold day today. Snow, and then sunshine that seems colder than the snow. A hard day for chickadees and goldfinches and redpolls and nuthatches and such to keep warm. Good thing my backyard has a lot of birdfeeders in it. Lots of food for feathered friends. What, you don’t see the birdfeeders? I mean all those goldenrods, asters, dogwoods, grasses–all the shrubby, seedy, weedy stuff we haven’t mowed in…gosh, we haven’t mowed this back field in probably ten years. Bird restaurant.
Read MoreAvian Weeds
No, it’s not the Parthenon. Or something built by spendthrift emperors in Ancient Rome. This is the State Education Department building in Albany, NY. It’s really a magnificent building. Based on the greatest traditions of Western architecture, only on a huge scale. You could comfortably fit about eight Parthenons inside it. I marvel at the beauty of this building, and also at what’s perched on top of it. Now, if you’ve been reading this blog you know I like odd plants. My favorites of all are dandelions and poison ivy. I just have a thing for the unloved ones. And so,...
Read MoreFun at the Mall
This holiday season, I tried to keep out of the big box stores. Shop small, shop local was my mantra. And I mostly succeeded. But once in a while I would find myself, for one reason or another (usually involving the dire needs of high-school students for electronic devices) in the mega-parking lot of a mega-mall. But holiday shopping is not my favorite pastime, and before I know it, I find myself wandering away from the stores towards the interesting part of the mall: the unmowed area that fringes the lot. On one side of the fence: stores, cars and blacktop. On the other side, the good...
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