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Welcome to the Pine River Review. Our sight is dedicated to our little homestead located along the Pine River tucked inside the Chippewa Nature Center's 1400 Acres of wild in Michigan's lower penninsula. We love to share our pictures, video, comment, and our own homespun music. Step inside our world as we celebrate this beautiful nook!


Tuesday, November 22, 2011

World Bird Wednesday LIII


A World of Sticks



   I think I still have a bit of a hangover from WBW's 1st anniversary blast last week. My mind is blank, over played in the face of the remarkable nature of your kind comments and well wishes. My pictures seem random and disconnected as I look for candidates to splash a blog post with. It's hard to see a thread of logic or a story to connect them with. I wish I had a good turkey picture to make ironic Thanksgiving comments about, maybe relate it to the naive Native Americans who paid a hefty price for the sin of poor character assessment when the billowing sails of ocean going vessels first tipped over the Eastern Horizon. That point has been made, sharpened many times over.
  Yes, if it is your fate to be American, it is a good bet a fifteen to twenty pound turkey torso is laying in wait inside your refrigerator. There is one in mine, complete with a pop up thermal plug to let me know when the bird is thoroughly roasted. If your not American or decline to celebrate overindulgence this Thanksgiving holiday, rejoice and be thankful anyway, as a WBW person you will be fondly and well remembered as I lift a toast while counting my greatest blessings this Thursday. If by chance, luck has you in Michigan this week, there is a chair for you at my table and a soft pillow to cradle your head after chow.




Luckily this is a bird blog, and it's never a mistake to simply tell how you got the pictures.
  
   My son Josh and I took a cruise around Belle Isle one morning after work. His Firehouse and mine had gone to a little church fire the evening before but other than that the night had passed peacefully. Belle Isle is our decompression zone. We meet there to share and shed the comings and goings of the previous work day. The patch lays across the MacArthur bridge; a calm, green oasis, a stones throw from the poor neighborhoods of lower East-side Detroit that we fight fires in. Half way between Lakes Huron and Erie, along the Great Lake's flyway, it's a prime stopover point for migrating birds. A family of Night Herons summers here and they're a lot easier to find now that the leaves have fallen. Their hiding places made bare, we can see right into the world of sticks.
   The big news this week has been the Tundra swans out on the choppy waters of the Detroit river. The adult swans are leading the Atlantic flock from their summer home along the Arctic rim, funneling down the center of the continent to the wintering grounds up and down the North American Eastern seaboard. It is a nice diversion to think that these great birds were in such an exotic location just a short time ago; World travelers come to town with the salt of strange seas still on their feathers.  



  
   The comings and goings of bird life is stock and trade for us, the watchers of nature. We mark time by the migrations as surely as the Astronomers can, guided by the path of stars through the heavens. To what end does this watching take us? 
   It is folly maybe, to think you can look into the mind of another species. To know their motivations, the primal urge to raise wings and commence a great journey. To see in your minds eye the stars in the same way they do. To feel the magnetic pull of the Earths poles and travel the third dimension of air, wind, and thermals as surely and deftly as we Earth bound souls scratch the dirt with our hands and feet. Are we designed for lesser things than they that flock above?
   Do they pity us, the birds? 




This is the home of World Bird Wednesday. A place for bird photographers from around the world to gather and share their photographs and experiences as they pursue Natures most beautiful treasurers, the birds.
You don't have to be a Bird Watcher or expert photographer to join in--just enjoy sharing what you bring back from your explorations and adventures into nature!
  
World Bird Wednesday will be open for posting at 12 noon Tuesday EST North America through midnight on Wednesday.

CLICK THIS PICTURE!

#1. Simply copy the above picture onto your W.B.W. blog entry, it contains a link for your readers to share in the fun. Or, you can copy this link on to your blog page to share WBW. http://pineriverreview.blogspot.com/


#2. Come to The Pine River Review on Tuesday Noon EST North America through Wednesday midnight and submit your blog entry with Linky.


#3. Check back in during the course of the next day and explore these excellent photoblogs!

The idea of a meme is that you will visit each others blogs and perhaps leave a comment to encourage your compadres!
Come on it's your turn!

32 comments:

  1. Great pictures! I really like the one of the Hooded Merganser (I believe) with the fish! Nice shot!

    BTW, I'm originally from MI and still have lots of family there.

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  2. Your photos are fantastic with or without turkeys. I'm new in taking photos of birds. Your photos are inspirational.

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  3. I have often wondered about a bird when it first learns to fly and if that is exciting for them..Love the photos especially the mergansers... Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.. we are not doing a bird, but a lasagna.. lol...Michelle

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  4. springman, i enjoy your words as much as your photos. you always take me on a mind trip. :)

    love the gull shot. perfect.

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  5. Fantastic photos, Springman, and your words always give us something to ponder!

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  6. no celebration for me in Sweden. We wait a while for another.
    You managed to find a swan I have nort seen and a duck I would love to see. :)
    Have a great week. :)

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  7. Beautiful photos as always!
    Have a great week.

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  8. I wish you and your family a wonderful Thanksgiving and I would love to drop by... maybe one day?
    Let me know the time of your WBW toast and I will share it with you.

    I made my comment last week before fully reading your post.
    Reading the full story about the little sparrow we all share every week that inspired this Meme brought a tear to my eye..

    Enjoy your holiday... and thanks for WBW.

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  9. The swans are so beautiful. Bird migration is always interesting. Great post again Springman.

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  10. Best wishes, and thank you for this Thanksgiving gift of prose and photos!

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  11. Great post and wonderful birds photos. I love the Night heron and the merganser is my favorite. I hope you and your family have a Happy Thanksgiving, Springman!

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  12. Springman, another great post! I love all of your shots! But then I usually do! Great capture of the heron. I have a bucket load of shots of them, but most are either behind the leave and bushes, or head hidden and fast asleep.
    I really like the shot of the seagulls. It just really draws me in with its excellent detail all the way to the back!
    And of course Swans. I don't think there's such a thing as a bad shot of a Swan. They are just so photogenic.
    My wife was born and raised in Windsor. She is always full of stories about Belle Isle! Never been there myself. I swoop in and took her away from there!
    Cheers on a year and a week!

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  13. your blog posts are always written just so that they make the most interesting reading. Being the author of such a successful blog, I'm sure too there are avenues waiting for you in other places to write. Maybe you've already done this, anyway. Well, not that you should, just that I see your expertise in this arena. Enjoy your turkey (great idea the pop-up; how easy is that?!), means you can inbibe and relax and know it'll come out right every time. Well just one for this year I expect! Cheers back and enjoyed the beautiful photos you included this post, as always.

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  14. Love the photos and the musings. I especially love the line, "World travelers come to town with the salt of strange seas still on their feathers." You gave us food for thought as we await our Thanksgiving feast! May you have a happy one!

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  15. Unbelievable pictures! You take amazing shots. Love the Tundra swans!
    Have a Happy and safe Thanksgiving.
    Becky

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  16. awesome photos...first time visitor...joined in...

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  17. It's always a joy to read your posts as well as your birds. Love the gull shot! Have a great turkey day springman!

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  18. What a superb post with breathtaking photos as always! I love the shot of the gulls and your Night Heron looks a lot like ours. What a treat to have the Tundra Swans visiting you for the winter. Have a great celebration, Springman. Greetings, Jo, Kenya

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  19. Thanks Springman, for another WBW, another chance to drop out of my everyday life and just dream :) Nice shots and text as always, I really enjoy your posts. Keep up the good work!

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  20. Again you show us the wonders of being close to really large tracts of water. The Tundra swans are wonders I probably will not personally see in this lifetime, as are the other birds in your post. You have no idea how I would love to invade your Thanksgiving dinner with your pop=up thermostat turkey. The last time we enjoyed such a feast was in 1969 with our hosts in Vermont.
    But even without that, I am so thankful that you started this meme and kept it going for all our enjoyment and tomorrow, as every day, it is mete to give thanks for birds and cameras, and all the natural wonders of this world as well all the wonderful bloggers who share their experience through your meme.
    As ever, thank you.

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  21. Great post and images as always, Springman!!
    I really look forward to this link up each week. Happy Thanksgiving to you, all the way from very warm Brisbane, Australia!! Roast turkey sounds wonderful. Will you be posting your dinner for WBW next week??

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  22. Amazing photos! My favourite is the fourth one. I hope I can take such shots in future. And because of your wonderful meme not a day goes by when I don't spend time capturing or trying to capture birds with my camera.:)

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  23. I love your site here,love to sit back & ponder your musings.I think the birds do feel sorry for us, looking down from such an overwelming sight of forever freedom up there.
    Your pictures are great as always,& I thank you for starting & keeping up with our birds from around the world.Always learning something new each time I come here,happy Thanksgiving for you & your family & friends,phyllis

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  24. IM gah gah over the gull shot...really enjoying the focus on the row of faces...excellent. There is no dead bird in my fridge but lets Fed the Pilgrims one more time...and give thanks!!

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  25. Another superb post David! Your posts are always so thought provoking. I think the birds do pity us. Have you ever looked into the eyes of a Great Horned Owl?

    Silly humans. What do we know about the true ways of the world?

    The gull jumping off the wall? So nonchalant. I love that!

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  27. Good Thanks Giving day to you and yours!
    And thank you for your words in my blog!
    "The Whooper Swan, Cygnus cygnus, is a large Northern Hemisphere swan. It is the Eurasian counterpart of the North American Trumpeter Swan", tells Wikipedia and it is an answer to your question :)
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whooper_Swan
    Regards
    Leena

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  28. Thank you, David, for your inspiring blog and the WBW meme. You have such a gift, you keep coming up with words and pictures, just like that gull jumping off the crowded wall, that lift us out of our quotidian lives, and take us on surprising journeys.

    Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family, and please stay safe in your dangerous profession.

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  29. Hi there - great post.

    Really liked the gulls on the wall shot.

    I think I had been watching the Pelican for at least 5 or 10 minutes before I saw it was not "a" pelican at all!

    Cheers - Stewart M

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  30. Hi there - great post.

    Really liked the gulls on the wall shot.

    I think I had been watching the Pelican for at least 5 or 10 minutes before I saw it was not "a" pelican at all!

    Cheers - Stewart M

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  31. I hope (know) you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We would love to be in Michigan one day -- it is the only one of the 48 that we haven't "slept" in, in our RV (although we were at a conference in a hotel once in Dearborn back in our other life. But that doesn't count.)
    Since we are retired, decompression isn't as vitally necessary as it used to be, but I would still give anything to visit your special spots and see even half of the nature that you chronicle so beautifully. Thank you as always for sharing.

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  32. Someday, I will see swans in flight...

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