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
Link Blog – August 26, 2015
Animal migration tracking: how did we get to bee backpacks? | Alphr 082615 [A good overview of the history of animal tracking technology, with links] “Tiny bee backpacks… These microsensors have been glued to the backs of 10,000 honey bees … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged animal tracking, behavior, birding, citizen science, evolution, John James Audubon, Lake Erie, Minnesota, water pollution
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Link Blog – August 20, 2015
American Birding Expo | Video Buy Optics from Eagle Optics, Get a Discounted ABA Membership! « ABA Blog 081515 Our good friends at Eagle Optics are once again offering a fantastic deal for those interested in purchasing a new pair … Continue reading
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Naturalist-Writers: Vern Laux on Cape Cod Shorebirds
I discovered Vern Laux last spring when one of his weekly bird reports from Cape Cod showed up in my bird migration news alert. He is a naturalist and writer as well as a broadcaster at WCAI-FM on the Cape. Not only can you read his elegant, informative prose – you can hear him read it, too. I try to listen to him on WCAI’s live stream every Wednesday morning about 8:45 EST. It’s also available as full text or audio on demand. To my ear, it’s the best bird feature I have heard on public radio. Continue reading
Posted in Birds
Tagged Cape Cod, naturalist-writers, naturalists, shorebirds, Verne Laux
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Naturalist Notebook – August 18, 2015
D-Day Ohio: D-DAY Conneaut 2012 Quickly becoming America’s premier living history event, this free to the public reenactment is a highly realistic and educational reenactment of the WWII European Theater of Operations and the D-Day Normandy invasion. | Since 1999, … Continue reading
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Tagged fish, history, Lake Erie, links, naturalist-writers, sensory perception, vocal learning, water pollution
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Naturalist-Writers: Stephen Moss on the Great Skua
Stephen Moss is a naturalist, writer and broadcaster, based at the BBC Natural History Unit. He writes the monthly Birdwatch column for The Guardian. His July 19 column whets my imagination for seabirds and islands in the northern-most reaches of the British Isles. Continue reading
Posted in Birds, Ecologies
Tagged islands, naturalist-writers, naturalists, seabirds, UK
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