About the Ghost Turtles
150 years after Robert Duncanson painted this luminist scene on the Little Miami River, I stood in the same spot and saw a soft-shelled turtle sunning on a snag. It slipped silently into the water when it heard me. That’s when I knew past is present and destiny, too. That’s when my vision of the Ghost Turtles began. Read more
Ecology of the Senses
Returning to Lake Superior year after year like a migrating loon, I’ve learned the other side of a slow, uncertain process that could be called “going blind.” With the lake as my teacher, I know what lies on the other side. I call it letting go of sight. Read more.Prayer at Big Creek
![Sandhill cranes land on Platte River sandbar roosts west of Rowe Sanctuary’s Iain Nicolson Audubon Center southwest of Gibbon, Nebraska. [Photo by Lori Porter| Kearney Hub]](https://www.ghostturtles.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/sandhill_cranes_kearneyhub_032015-300x225.jpg)
At the threshold of consciousness, as I slipped back and forth between two worlds, I put my mind in the best place I could imagine, a marsh on Lake Erie called Big Creek. I knew I’d find cranes waiting for me. I cannot say whether I prayed for them, or to them, or with them. The cant of words doesn’t matter. I believe in the still, small voice. I believe what the poet Yehuda Amichai said. Gods come and go. Prayer is eternal. Read moreFreedom to Read
![An endangered Whooping crane takes flight. Yhe large bird has a 7-foot wingspan. It is all white except for black wing tips and face markings. In this photo its long neck stretches forward; its wings sweep upward; and its black legs trail straight behind it. [Source: International Crane Foundation]](https://www.ghostturtles.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Whooping-crane-eastern-ICF-080622-300x157.jpg)
Whenever I hear sanctimonious pronouncements about woke, parental rights, and banning books, I think of Whooping cranes. In my family, the gawky, audacious, elusive and endangered birds are synonymous with our values about the First Amendment and the freedom to read. Read more.Sister, Teacher, Pathfinder
A guidance counselor in high school told my sister Diana, “With your eye problems you will never make it in college. Just forget about it. Get married. Raise a family.” That advice only deepened her determination. She did it all in due time, in her own way –college, marriage, family. She became a guidance counselor herself. She certainly was the most important guide and pathfinder in my life. Read more.Flaneur & Bouquiniste
![Mark Willis peruses a 1745 volume by Voltaire at a bouquiniste book stall on the banks of the Seine in Paris. He wears a brown leather jacket and checkered flat cap. He holds the open book in his hands. Rows of old books are seen on shelves behind him. [2005 photo by Ms. Modigliani]](https://www.ghostturtles.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/mw_bouquiniste_05-300x225.jpg)
I remember the book I held in my hands that day. I remember the feel of its time-warped, water-stained pages. I remember its murky, moldy river smell, call it the book’s bouquet, suggesting years of storage on the banks of the Seine. Had I bought it then, I could feel and smell it now and know it from a hundred other books in my library. Read more.R & K: A Rant
Marjorie Taylor Green auditioned for R&K’s Authoritarian It Girl at the 2023 State of the Union address. She and her Republican colleagues yelled like Tarzan swinging through the trees as they jeered and booed the President’s speech. Read Rants & Kisses.R & K: A Kiss
Songs by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Singers like Dione Warwick and Dusty Springfield. What Do You Get When You Fall in Love? The Look of Love. I Say a Little Prayer. I sit in the car’s back seat and listen. I’m glad it’s dark. I’d be embarrassed if anyone could see the dreamy look on my face. Read Rants & Kisses.
Author Archives: Mark Willis
Internet Naturalist – June 2, 2014
Rock Harbor Lodge | Isle Royale Nat'l Park Canoe Packs, Camping Gear, Dog Gear, Skijoring Equipment – Kondos Outdoors Kondos Outdoors
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Internet Naturalist – May 4, 2014
POLITICO Morning Money – POLITICO.com 042914 ALSO TODAY: NATURE INVESTMENT EVENT — Per release: “The Nature Conservancy and JPMorgan Chase will unveil “NatureVest,” an initiative that will accelerate private investment in land and water conservation funding at 12:15 PM at … Continue reading
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Internet Naturalist – March 23, 2014
To Save Endangered Tortoises, Conservationists Deface Their Shells : NPR 022714 They’re a quiet bunch, the hundreds of animals residing at the well-guarded botanical oasis in California’s Ojai Valley. They’ve been brought to the Turtle Conservancy from countries around the … Continue reading
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Internet Naturalist – March 17, 2014
A Plan To Eliminate Wild Mute Swans Draws Vocal Opposition : NPR 031114 A plan in New York state to has drawn protests and petitions on all sides. While some see elegant white birds gliding across the water, others see … Continue reading
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Internet Naturalist – January 19, 2014
Rare Scottish Bird Reveals Its Long-Secret Winter Home : NPR 011114 Think you have a long commute? Well it’s probably nothing compared to the red-necked phalarope’s. NPR’s Scott Simon talks to Malcie Smith of the Royal Society for the Protection … Continue reading
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Internet Naturalist – January 12, 2014
Status and Ecological Effects of the World’s Largest Carnivores | Science 011014 Ripple et al 2014 Science 10 January 2014: Vol. 343 no. 6167 DOI: 10.1126/science.1241484 Abstract: Large carnivores face serious threats and are experiencing massive declines in their populations … Continue reading
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Internet Naturalist – November 25, 2013
Sandhill Cranes calling and feeding – YouTube Darwin Got It Wrong – Studio 360 110113 Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, and Lord Kelvin are remembered as unimpeachable geniuses. But over the course of their careers, they each made tremendous errors — … Continue reading
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