Echoes in the Mist

This 2017 video, recorded in Namibia, is called ELEPHANTS: THE GIANTS OF ETOSHA.

From the Ecological Society of America in the USA:

Elephants take to the road for reliable resources

In a national park, researchers study African elephant movement and vegetation using satellites

January 9, 2019

Summary: Landscapes can change from day-to-day and year-to-year, and many animals will move about according to resource availability. But do they remember past resource conditions? Just how important is memory and spatial cognition when seeking to understand wildlife movement? Researchers in Etosha National Park, Namibia, examined this question through African elephants.

An elephant never forgets. This seems to be the case, at least, for elephants roaming about Namibia, looking for food, fresh water, and other resources,

The relationship between resource availability and wildlife movement patterns is essential to understanding species behavior and ecology. Landscapes can change from day-to-day and year-to-year, and…

This video was recorded during the first three days of 2019, on Voorne-Putten island in the Netherlands. Beerenplaat, Bernisse and Beninger Slikken areas. Includes blue tit, little grebe, kestrel and many other birds.

Thomas Babington Macaulay … declared that traditional Indian knowledge consists of “false History, false Astronomy, false Medicine … in company with a false religion”, many Indian academics and intellectuals have implicitly or explicitly accepted that knowledge from the West is the real thing. – Prof Michel Danino

Indian civilization’s obsession with knowledge was our last “master idea,” with endless and still poorly explored contributions in nearly every field (“India as a Knowledge Creator”, The New Indian Express, 29 November). But there is another side to the story, which in many ways characterizes the paradox of Indian culture.

No Indian university, IIT or IIM has a regular, comprehensive course on Indian knowledge systems (IKS) (though IIT Gandhinagar made a beginning a few years ago). There are, no doubt, a few scattered courses on systems of ancient science (IIT Bombay and Kharagpur), and a few universities teach courses on Indian…

The India that was a creator of knowledge, has become a consumer rather than a supplier in the market. Two centuries of colonial dominance certainly played a part, but we have enjoyed seven decades of independence. Clearly, as a nation we have not done justice to Indian knowledge systems, which no Indian university teaches today except in bits and pieces. – Prof Michel Danino

Launched with great fanfare in 2005, India’s National Knowledge Commission claimed to work “towards a Knowledge Society”, an objective which Dr. Manmohan Singh, then prime minister, repeated on many public platforms. It sounded quite noble, but few noticed how it implied that India was not yet a “knowledge society”, and perhaps never was one. Paradoxically, such a statement reflects a profound ignorance of the cult of—almost obsession for—knowledge in pre-modern India.

Indeed, India is the only ancient civilisation where knowledge was deified, with the honour going…

Green-winged Teal, male

This time of year we are greeted in Northern California by half a million ducks. They literally flock to the mild winter climates of the Pacific Flyway; spend the winter here, and then in late January or February head north to their breeding grounds.

Green-winged Teal, Cosumnes River Preserve

The Pacific Flyway is a bird migration route that extends from Alaska down to Patagonia; it runs through central California. The area featured here, the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex, encompasses several refuges and is centered near California’s capital city, Sacramento. But these migratory birds can be found in winter throughout the Flyway, in numerous refuges spanning the state.

Here are six of my favorite migrating ducks. Each duck species breeds in a different place; I have linked each one for more information.

The Green-winged Teal, with its dazzling green eye patch, is one of the…

This 2 January 2019 video is about wintering whooper swans feeding on a meadow. Both adult and young birds, with geese in the background.

Luuk Punt in the Netherlands made this video.

This video is about a capped heron in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.

Green Honeycreeper, male, Trinidad

In this fresh new year — try to find a spark of  joy in every day.

It could be a spot of bright nature;

Azure Kingfisher, Australia

or something new you’ve never seen before;

Male Kudu, Botswana, Chobe River

Conversely, joy could appear in something you see every day, but never stopped to appreciate.

Monarch Butterfly, Horicon Marsh, WI

Twelve-spotted Skimmer Dragonfly, California

We can find joy in remarkable human engineering feats;

Sydney Opera House, Australia

or inspiring people;

Gandhi Statue, The Ferry Building, San Francisco

Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC

or art, so many forms of art.

Ancient Kangaroo Rock Art, Kakadu NP, Australia

Chihuly Sea Star, Seattle, WA

Some of the most cheerful joy comes in simple forms.

American Robin nest, Wisconsin

California Honeysuckle, lonicera

There will be times, however, in the new year when difficulty or despair take over.

Joy might not be readily accessible…

Spending the holidays with family in Santa Cruz California,

and spied this young egret on Christmas Day.

He had romance on his mind,

but his timing was all wrong.

He expected affection,

prior to,

fine dining!

Live and learn.

He got the dinner,

but not the date!

Cheers to you from sunny Santa Cruz~

Wading Birds like this oystercatcher are fascinating to watch. I photographed this American Oystercatcher in South America.

This Black Oystercatcher, near The Holler, was a rare sighting.

California has about 668 species of birds. The Holler, and nearby environs alone, account for approximately 500 of them, including a variety of waders. Little Blue Herons can be found near the coast, and are seen less often, closer to The Holler.

Majestic Great Blue Herons are common.

They sometimes show up at our front door!

Sandhill Cranes stand over four feet tall and are further afield.

They winter at The Salton Sea.

Snowy Egrets are everywhere. This guy was near the coast.

His green crab lunch was a bit crabby and hard to swallow!

Cheers to you from The Holler’s wonderful waders~