one puffling at a time

Every once in a while, when I'm enjoying my new groove in the sunroom, a story in the Smithsonian magazine almost brings me to tears, just through the turn of phrase employed by the author.

This was one of those mornings.

In a sly pun from the universe, the article about birds was written by Katz.

(smile!)

Here's the closing paragraph.

"Perhaps a few years from now, one of these returning birds will be the puffling I saw last fall, tossed into the air by a young girl in a bright orange jacket, her arms held aloft as she watched it fly off over the ocean, full of wonder and hope as she saved one small part of the world."

So said Cheryl Katz in "Make Way For Pufflings", about baby puffins and the Icelandic people who have made it their mission, for more than a century, to help them.

Reading those words, I was struck at once with the thought of one of my favorite tales of animal rescue: the person throwing stranded starfish back into the ocean, one by one.

I wonder if she is familiar with that tale of perspective.

 

That started me to thinking about birds, which brought to mind one of the photographs taken by the retired Brit in Virginia.

He is an avid birder - with a surname of Peacock, he rather has to be, right? - and has captured some amazing shots of birds in motion!

However, the photo I'm speaking of was of a perched feathered creature.

Here's Andrew's caption.

 

"Belted kingfisher eyeing a snake.
This was the first snake that we have seen this year (Jan 28th)"

I was dazzled not by the bird, but the framing of the photo as a whole.

So, I had to comment, didn't I?

And that began a bit of conversation on fb.

(smile!)

 

me:
Is this a reflection in water???

him:
No

me:
That log going across the middle has such symmetry from end to end that
it looks like the upper part is being reflected.
Nice!

him:
I see what you mean now.
Yes, the upper log is being reflected.

me:
That's a superb photo, probably serendipitously so.
Andrew, you didn't purposely try for a half-real, half-reflection, shot, right?
You were just going for the bird?

him:
Yes, the bird was the prime target.
I will have to go back to the original shot and see if I can re-interpret it in light of your comment.

Perspective.

I wonder if he has returned to the locale of the kingfisher?

Has he tried to recreate that glorious photograph, sans bird and reptile?

And what about entering the shot in a photo contest, perhaps for a magazine story?

I'll have to maybe pester him a bit about that!

(smile!)