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Saturday Snapshot May 31: After the Rain

Ever since I first read Annie Dillard, I’d wanted to see Puget Sound. But after all these years, I’ve been firmly rooted in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta. My neck of the woods is a boreal forest. So, I’m more at home with spruce trees than sandy beaches. Puget Sound will have to remain on my bucket list.

All through winter, spruce and pines are sustenance, the bulwark and shelter for birds and small creatures that stay behind, and me.

After two days of spring rain, I ventured out just when it broke clear slightly, and was mesmerized by the greens. From among the hardy spruce, the aspens burst out to embrace spring.

The tall, slender trunks, each a natural canvas

Colours and textures wrapped around

and moss as paints.

Nature’s artwork

Moss or fungus? No matter. Here’s life

Monet in Nature

And I couldn’t resist the capture, even though just a common sparrow, obscure, blocked by a branch:

Nature’s Artist at work in Annie Dillard’s Puget Sound as well as my Boreal Forest. Her descriptions are strikingly close to what I had experienced.

“I see a hundred insects moving across the air, rising and falling. Chipped notes of birdsong descend from the trees, tuneful and broken; the notes pile about me like leaves.”

Despite geographical distances and variance in environs, her words resonate:

“Time and space are in touch with the Absolute at base.”

– Annie Dillard, Holy The Firm

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Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda of West Metro Mommy Reads. CLCIK HERE to see what others have posted.

Photos in this post taken by Arti of Ripple Effects

Do Not Copy or Reblog

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Saturday Snapshot May 24: Yellow Bird

Here’s another encounter of the ‘ordinary’ yet not so ordinary. A yellow bird is very common for those living in warmer climates. But for me, it’s a rare sighting. I was so excited to see something bright yellow moving among the branches. Can you spot it? A better view as I quietly got closer: but just for a short few seconds, and then it was gone, fleeing from a lone paparazzo: I followed the yellow bird from tree to tree for well over a half hour. I did not know what kind of bird it was; I did not much care. That would come later when I got home. At that moment, I was too preoccupied with fixing my eyes on it, to whatever perils may come. I was stalking high and low among last year’s flood debris of fallen trees along a damaged landscape, trying not to trip without looking down at my feet.

Finally, a clearing: Yellow, black and red contrasting fresh green leaves and a pale blue sky in the backdrop, a colourful picture.

Eventually, he seemed to appreciate my tenacity, and rewarded me with a couple of poses: Only after I’d uploaded my photos later and checked the features did I identify what bird it was: The Western Tanager. This one is a male in breeding season. “These birds live in open woods all over the West…” so says the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. They may be common, but this one is unique because it’s the only one I’ve seen. That makes it special for me.

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Saturday Snapshot is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. Click Here to see what others have posted.

Photos in this post taken by Arti of Ripple Effects, 2014. Please DO NOT COPY or Reblog.

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Saturday Snapshot May 17: Franklin’s Gulls

I discovered a flock of Franklin’s Gulls a few weeks ago. Seeing the limited breeding area shown on the map, I consider myself privileged to be living right in this zone to welcome them.

Franklin's Gulls Map 1 — Source: South Dakota Birds and Birding

I heard the calls of gulls from afar, even before i saw them. I admit I wasn’t too excited. My initial thought was, ‘just another bunch of ordinary seagulls’. When I got closer, I saw a huge flock, close to a hundred of them.

Only after I’d uploaded my photos to my laptop did I realize these were not ‘ordinary gulls’ (for us I suppose are the more common Ring-billed Gulls). At first, I could not tell what they were. I had to look up the detailed descriptions to identify them.

They were Franklin’s Gulls, breeding adults. Their black head and white crescent eyes make them look like they’re hooded. They look almost cartoonish, comical, everyone full of character.

Franklin's Gulls
Below their dark hood is a white neck, their wings dark gray. The trailing edge of the wing is white, wing tip black with white spots. Slender and handsome:

See the beak of the gull on the upper left. In the light, it’s translucent orangey-red:

Beautiful wings looking from the top:

completely snow-white from underneath:

See Jonathan Livingston Seagull soar above the crowd, gliding in solitude:

After learning about the Franklin’s Gulls, I found I didn’t know much about the ‘ordinary gulls’ either… maybe nothing is ordinary in Nature.

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Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda of West Metro Mommy Reads. CLICK HERE to see what others have posted.

ALL PHOTOS TAKEN BY ARTI OF RIPPLE EFFECTS.

DO NOT COPY OR REBLOG

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Saturday Snapshot May 10: The Owl Family… Moonrise Haven

Here they are, all come out to enjoy the evening sun. In just a few weeks, the Owlets have grown so much they are about the size of their parents. How I tell them apart is by their still fluffy down. Here’s Owlie 1:

He likes to try out his new wings:

Oops, caught in the branches. Flapping and struggling to get untangled:

And Mama’s reaction to all the fluttering? Totally unruffled. She’s too busy posing for me:

Here’s the more quiet Owlie 2:

And where’s Papa? As always, watching from a distance on another tree, calm and cool. Here he is, hooting away. That’s the first time I actually hear an Owl hoot, rhythmic calls, music for Mama and kids, and me:

Who teaches their young to fly and land safely? Don’t look at Mama or Papa, they don’t lift a finger:

Who teaches them to play nice, and hug each other? That too, is instinct.

Ok, for Mothers Day, let’s have a photo. I’ll entitle this one “Moonrise Haven”, with thanks to Wes Anderson:

Ah… Natural parenting, so simple, almost effortless.

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Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda of West Metro Mommy Reads. CLICK HERE to see what others have posted.

ALL PHOTOS TAKEN BY ARTI OF RIPPLE EFFECTS, 2014.

DO NOT COPY OR REBLOG

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Previous Posts on the Owl Family (In Chronological Order):

The Great Horned Owl (March 2013)

Sign of Spring: Nesting (April 2013)

Spring Babies and Parenting Styles (May 2013)

The Hustle and Bustle of Spring (April 2014)

Within the Budding Grove (April 2014)

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Book Sale 2014: A Very Restrained Purchase

It’s that time of the year again… no, I don’t mean nesting habit of birds. I’m referring to The Crossroads Market Annual Book Sale. A diversion from my usual avian pics for Saturday Snapshot, here’s a photo of my very restrained purchase this year.

Readers familiar with my previous annual book loot will know how I’d hauled back home dozens of like-new or even unopened books at $2 each. All for the good cause of supporting Servants Anonymous Society.

Due to the boxes of still unread inventory from previous years, I’d decided to refrain from gratifying my hoarding instinct this time. The result is this minimal bagging of just four books, which I’d spent hours hand picking. Again, $2 each, all in mint condition:

The reasons for these selections? Three had sold film rights and two of them are already in development for a movie adaptation. The fourth one isn’t going to be a movie, but no less dramatic.

An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin

Other than being known as the Father of the Bride, Steven Martin is also a talented banjo player. I’ve heard his banjo playing, but as for his books, quite a few of them actually, I still haven’t had the pleasure to enjoy. So here it is, a Steve Marin novel with 22 full-colour art reproductions inside. Story is set in the demanding art world of Manhattan, about Sotheby’s up-and-coming and very ambitious Lacey Yeager who has set her mind on climbing high on the career ladder. Amy Adams had bought the film rights, aiming at producing and starring in it. Who is writing the screenplay? Ned Benson, who wrote and directed The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby Him and Her, which had me mesmerized at TIFF last year.

The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry

The novel won the prestigious James Tait Black Memorial Prize in the UK and the Costa Awards in 2008, Irish Book Awards’ Novel of the Year, and short-listed for the Man Booker Prize. Roseanne McNulty has lived in a mental asylum for fifty plus years. Now at the ripe old age of one hundred, she decides to write her life story. Fascinating. So the book chapters transport the character and her readers between the present and the past. I look forward to the movie adaptation, just take a look at this perfect casting: the legendary Vanessa Redgrave as the older Roseanne McNulty and the talented Jessica Chastain as the younger. Producer is Noel Pearson, the Irish theatre and film producer who brought us the Oscar winning My Left Foot (1989, Daniel Day-Lewis). The Secret Scripture film adaptation has great potentials. Shooting is reported to be starting in June this year.

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt

Here in Canada, this is a multiple award winner: 2011 Governor General’s Literary Award, 2011 Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize Finalist, 2011 Man Booker Prize Finalist, and selected as Amazon #1 Best Book of 2011. Film rights have been purchased by John C. Reilly’s production company… yes, the actor John C. Reilly, to turn this Western, yes, cowboy novel in the style of Elmore Leonard and True Grit into film. Should be an interesting read and movie. I don’t know about John C. Reilly, but, would he be willing to collaborate with the Coen brothers for the project?

The Film Club by David Gilmour

This is not the David Gilmour of Pink Floyd fame. Again, despite being an award-winning Canadian author, one time TV personality and CBC film critic, university lecturer, people outside of Canada upon hearing the name would likely think of someone more famous, at least Google does. Due to his recent incendiary remarks on his preferences re. writers and literature, this Canadian Gilmour just may have raised some awareness, adding notoriety to his name.

However, for me it’s not about him but about this audacious parenting experiment he conducted. At the time, his son was a 16 year-old who had an incurable avoidance of school. Watching him loiter at the edge of the cliff of boredom and aimlessness, what is a father to do? Well, Gilmour let his son drop out of school, but on two conditions: watch three movies with him every week, and, no drugs. Not a bad offer. A father and son film club instead of school… only in Canada, eh? Which titles were in his syllabus? As a film buff, I’m totally intrigued by his unorthodox parenting method, already half way through the book. Will definitely share with you eager parents when I’m done.

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You might want to see what others have posted for their Saturday Snapshot. CLICK HERE to Melinda of West Metro Mommy Reads.

Saturday Snapshot April 26: Within a Budding Grove

I just can’t resist. Having seen life bursting out in the spring forest, I’ve an urge to borrow Proust’s title here. But unlike Proust’s magnificent work, within the budding grove where I go birding, everything is stark literal, direct and visceral. No need for metaphors. Alive, chirping, calling, even confronting…

Robins stay here in the winter, but they keep quiet and hidden. Good to see energy recharged:

Or simply posturing. Here’s one Angry Bird:

In contrast, the Cedar Waxwings are more elegant, embracing the sun with poise and panache:

And there are other beautiful creatures with wings, in much simpler form but no less elegant:

The woods are lovely, but the main draw is the Owl Family. Again, another sighting of Papa amidst the budding grove, silently keeping watch…

over this trunk from a short distance, so not to draw attention to the nest I suppose:

Can you see them?

Here they are … a closer look. Two Owlets born shortly before Easter. Mom is in there, probably taking a much needed nap. This is a different pose from the one I posted on Easter Sunday:

What does this make you think of? For me… Mt Rushmore.

Within a budding grove, surprises abound.

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Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda of West Metro Mommy Reads. CLICK HERE to see what others have posted.

ALL PHOTOS TAKEN BY ARTI OF RIPPLE EFFECTS

DO NOT COPY OR REBLOG

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When Easter is the Spring

Quickening

Dead trees draw life
when the days expand and the sun
fulfills its promise, oft delayed
by the clutch of ice.

Clotted, gnarled, knotted twigs
on the trees sense sap and the death
of death. They stretch, begin
to puff green on the end.

We sing new songs
of a Life laid down for rebirth
when Easter is the Spring
and the branch is Christ.

— Mark A. Noll

Every new birth is a miracle. I saw two yesterday:

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And To All, A Happy Easter!

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Saturday Snapshot April 12: The Hustle and Bustle of Spring

After a long and silent winter, I’m pleasantly surprised by the sounds and activities of spring in the woods. Here I’m just showing you the photos, so you can’t actually hear any sound. But from the images, you can imagine the cacophony there.

The sky is busy, and the woods, actually noisy. Birds beating one another to nesting sites, usually in old tree trunks. All of them are vigilant guarding their own. Avian and human traffic collide. And it looks like the biggest in size makes the loudest calls. No, not me. Canada Geese own the woods.

They’re ubiquitous, their calls dominating the air. And of course, they have the right of way. I nearly got hit by this one:

Another standing tall, scouting for nesting site, or maybe guarding one:

They are all vigilant when it comes to protecting their nests:

I know how much it means to them… Here, a couple gazing out into the late afternoon sun from their front porch:

More are still flapping their wings to better trunks, or maybe just enjoying an evening dip in the setting sun:

In the meantime, there are others making lesser but more melodious calls, like the Robins, happy that winter’s finally over:

or the Northern Flicker, charging with renewed energy:

Some quietly sharing:

or enjoying the (relatively) warm(er) breeze like this Nuthatch:

The European Starling is not just another black bird. A closer look you’ll see the shiny plumage, and their calls are much more pleasing than those of the Geese:

But the major attraction in the woods is, again, the Owl Family. I’m amazed how they would come back to the same trunk for nesting, and that Papa Owl always stands on guard from a distance, his sharp eyes watching over his own.

I’m mesmerized by his calmness and cool attention. If he needs to, Papa can fight off a Canada Goose with his talons. But he knows when to use force, and when to just placidly stand guard.

This is the old tree trunk he is watching quietly from afar:

A closer look you’ll see Mama Owl nesting in there. I’m told by fellow birders that two Owlets have been seen poking their downy heads out partially. But after a long while waiting, craning my neck up, I can only see Mama:

I’ll have a better chance of taking a family photo once the Owlets fledge.

Canada Geese begin to converge near the Owl’s nest, trying to draw our attention with their jealous squawks.

As the evening sun sinks below the horizon, I can see this Goose making its nest not far from the Owl Family. And I know too, Papa will be keeping watch throughout the night, feeding and protecting his very own.

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda of West Metro Mommy Reads. CLICK HERE to see what others have posted.

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ALL PHOTOS TAKEN BY ARTI OF RIPPLE EFFECTS, APRIL 2014.
DO NOT COPY OR REBLOG

Saturday Snapshot February 1: Summer Breeze Makes Me Feel Fine

Blowin’ through the jasmine in my mind…

I caught myself singing it. Is it just me, succumbing to these Walter Mitty moments more and more this winter? Humour me, let’s take a minute to just zone out of this persistent cold. I’m sure the warm breeze will revitalize you.

Here are some photos I took last summer. Now, imagine seeing…

A Pelican scratching its itch:

A deer playing peekaboo with you:

Mushrooms growing out of a tree:

A Chickadee take flight:

A white spider on a yellow flower:

Black butterflies on white flowers:

An angler fishing at dusk:

It’s February already, can spring be far behind?

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Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda of West Metro Mommy Reads. CLICK HERE to see what others have posted.

ALL PHOTOS TAKEN BY ARTI OF RIPPLE EFFECTS.
DO NOT COPY OR REBLOG

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Saturday Snapshot January 11: Inspired by Llewyn Davis

The movie Inside Llewyn Davis strikes me with its overall atmospheric tone colour. The almost black-and-white, cyan greyness that shroud the scenes convey a pervasive sense of melancholy. While I was seized by the gloominess, I also saw the beauty in the cinematography.

And the snow. During his trip to Chicago, Llewyn has to tread through snow on the streets, without a winter coat, without proper shoes. His socks are soaked through.

I took these two snow photos just recently. At first I wasn’t pleased with their lack of colour. But after watching the movie, I’ve come to appreciate them more. These are all colour photos, not black and white:

Without any green, trees can still be beautiful.

O the beauty of greyness.

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Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda of West Metro Mommy Reads. CLICK HERE to see what others have posted.

Photos in this post taken by Arti of Ripple Effects. Do Not Copy or Reblog.

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CLICK HERE to read my review of the movie Inside Llewyn Davis.

Saturday Snapshot Dec. 21: Life in the Snow

I don’t have to dream of a white Christmas. I’m living it. Today is the first day of winter, but we already have a few blizzards, and record snowfall.

In June we had our hundred-year flood. And now we have our hundred-year snowfall. According to records, the last time we had this much snow in just 16 days was in 1901, 112 years ago.

You might think life is arduous up here, but I tell you, it can be idyllic. Except for the traffic jams in and out of shopping malls at this time of the year, we’re a relatively happy lot. What more, being so close to Nature, I’m always delighted to see how contented our neighbours in the wild are, oblivious to the hustle and bustle of the Season.

Here are some photos I took in the last few weeks.

Snow-covered river banks:

Proof of life (and I don’t think they’re all human footprints):

Did they ever show you how to identify a Mallard’s track in scouting? No? Here it is:

Galore of duck activities:

… or inactivity:

Icy landing:

I was elated to see something else other than the common Mallard. At first I thought it was a Sandpiper, but when I checked in my bird book later at home, I learned that it was a Killdeer. Amazing, for they are supposed to be in the American south by now. Guess somebody wants to linger a while longer in the snow and ice:

Traffic jam in the sky. Not quite a perfect V? You have to cut them some slack, they are Mallards, not Canada Geese.

A solitary walk for this buck crossing the icy river. No jam here:

And deep in the snow, a few good folks had left some bird seeds. For the Woodpecker, it’s always tempting to go for fast food rather than to peck wood, especially when there’s no line-up:

What’s Christmas without a little snow?

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Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda of West Metro Mommy Reads. CLICK HERE to see what others have posted.

All photos in this post are taken by Arti of Ripple Effects, December, 2013. DO NOT COPY OR REBLOG.

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Saturday Snapshot Nov. 16: Magical Realism

At first, what drew my attention were the birds on top of the distant trees, sillouetted against the predawn sky. What were they?

Must be the hardy European Starlings, I thought. My birding instinct prodded me to get out of the house to find out, at 7:30 am, in -13C temperature.

As I got closer, their buzzing sound reminded me that I’d heard them before, in flocks, making sounds almost like cicadas, but lighter, more metallic and electric. By then, morning had broken. Indeed, they were not Starlings but Waxwings.

The sun shed its glorious light and I was much gratified to see that all those plump bellies were not Cedar Waxwings which I’d seen in the summer. From their grey pot belly, I could tell they were Bohemian Waxwings. Of course, they will be spending their winter here. The Cedar Waxwings had all gone south.