Roads End Naturalist

Exploring the natural world as we wander at the end of the road


No Mere Bird

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When we hear his call we hear no mere bird. We hear the trumpet in the orchestra of evolution. He is the symbol of our untamable past, of that incredible sweep of millennia which underlies and conditions the daily affairs of birds and men. Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins, as in art, with the pretty. It expands through successive stages of the beautiful to values as yet uncaptured by language. The quality of cranes lies, I think, in this higher gamut, as yet beyond the reach of words.

~Aldo Leopold

Cranes in horizontal line at sunset
Sandhill Cranes landing at sunset in Crane Ponds at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, NM (click photo to enlarge)

A short video clip with cranes calling at sunset at Bosque del Apache.

Comments

2 responses to “No Mere Bird”

  1. Nita Whitfield Avatar
    Nita Whitfield

    wonderful mike… were the cranes, above….. taking off, landing…???? or just coasting..??? how interesting the positions of their feet!!!! … by the way… got a title for your presentation at CPA in Feb.? We might could just call it….. Bears, Bugs, Birds and Bobcats!!! you’ve go the B’s covered!!!

    1. roadsendnaturalist Avatar

      Thanks, Nita. The cranes were gliding in for landings at their evening roost site in a shallow pond. I’ll get a title to you next week:)

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Roads End Naturalist

Exploring the natural world as we wander at the end of the road

Copyright Mike Dunn and Melissa Dowland