Welcome to the Artsy Fartsy Birds Edition #82 of I and the Bird
The Ansell Adams of Bird Photography, Klaus of Virtua Gallery: LimpkinIn this week’s edition we will examine the interconnectedness of birds, birding, art, poetry and philosophy. We will see how birds have influenced our lives and our creative selves.
When I read the Fenlandwalkers’ blog post about Flocks in Flight I thought of these lines from Rumi, a Sufi mystic and poet born in 1204. In his poem, divan 730 he writes:
Look! Quickly, look there among the trembling feathers
Of the copper beach, there, you see them—birds making
Ready to ride the dawn skies. They’ll rise up soon, rise up
Leave behind their conferring selves, to skim the seventh
Heaven turning and changing with the stripling light.
But Rumi is not the only one inspired by the image of a bird in flight. In 1957 Brancusi bought a sculpture into the USA form Romania that caused quite a stir in art shows and in customs. It spurred a legal battle even as it stirred the question of “What is Art?” Perhaps the customs agents and the artist himself could have benefited from the Bird Ecology Study Group’s Blog post, Flocking or Migration, Plain Pouched Hornbills. I think I see a resemblance to Brancusi’s controversial sculpture!
Brancusi: Bird in SpaceThe DC Birding Blog recounts the discovery of a New Forest Robin Species. Unlike our American Robin, which is really a thrush, this little bird reminds me of the robin in “The Secret Garden” a children’s book by Frances Hodges Burnet. The little robin is a central character in the book, and Old Wom Tigley of Wigger’s World not only has an excellent photo of this little robin, but he has used his artistic and creative skills to give us this impressionistic image of the bird that recalls Monet or Renoir.
English Robin by Tom WigleyIf Descartes, an 18 century philosopher declares, “I think, therefore I am,” then the birders in the movie, Opposable Chums, reviewed by The Hawk Owls Nest would probably declare, “I Bird, therefore I am!” (Or would it be, I am, therefore I Bird?)
After reading about The Unkindness of Ravens and Other Bird Stories perhaps Liza Lee Miller will join Edger Allen Poe in his poem The Raven as he declares, “Never More”.
So, to cheer you up, take a trip with Mike of 10,000 Birds to find out if he discovered, like Anne Morrow Lindberg, the Gift of the Sea when he explored The Birds of Virginia Beach.
After reading about The Unkindness of Ravens and Other Bird Stories perhaps Liza Lee Miller will join Edger Allen Poe in his poem The Raven as he declares, “Never More”.
So, to cheer you up, take a trip with Mike of 10,000 Birds to find out if he discovered, like Anne Morrow Lindberg, the Gift of the Sea when he explored The Birds of Virginia Beach.
Alright, has Jackson Pollock been up to mischief? Take a look at this Swirly Bird entered by the Nancy Castillo of the Zen Bird Feeder.
Swirly Bird by the Zen Bird FeederIf you like Van Gogh and his Sunflowers, then take a look at the Birder’s Lounge to see a Yellow Warbler in a Sunflower. What do you think Van Gogh could do with this image?
Troy and Martha of Ramblings around Texas could be our modern Walt Whitmans with cameras. Walt Sang a “Song of Myself” in his book, Leaves of Grass, while Troy and Martha sing a song of nature. While his post, Will The Guilty Goose Step Forward may remind you more of Sherlock Holmes or a recent episode of CSI, for me it recalled these lines of Whitman’s:
The wild gander leads his flock through the cool night
Ya Honk! he says, and sounds it down to me like an invitation;
The pert may suppose it meaningless, but I listen closer,
I find purpose and place up there toward the November sky.
Perhaps those geese may soon stop by The Nemesis Bird where he has been Birding Octorara Lake in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. While he is seeing shorebirds there, in Mary’s Corner of the World, faraway in California, she is also seeing her share of shore birds with The Smaller Birds of the Coast Guard Station. But Bird Freak encountered a Horicon Marsh De-Rail-ment in his birding quest.
From The Birder’s Report we learn that Great Horned Owls are Masters of Their Domain. This humorous old children’s rhyme may tell us why.
There was an old owl who lived in an oak;
The more he heard, the less he spoke.
The less he spoke, the more he heard.
Why aren’t we like that wise old bird!
If humor is more your fare, you don’t need to turn on Loony tunes when you can just visit The Loony Bin at The Marvelous In Nature. Then visit Mary’s View where Mockingbirds Make Me Wonder will have you laughing, and crying as well as saying, “Aw-w-w-w!”
Matisse may have painted “Madame Matisse, The Green Line” but Mary has the Green Heron in her Heron Overload.
The more he heard, the less he spoke.
The less he spoke, the more he heard.
Why aren’t we like that wise old bird!
If humor is more your fare, you don’t need to turn on Loony tunes when you can just visit The Loony Bin at The Marvelous In Nature. Then visit Mary’s View where Mockingbirds Make Me Wonder will have you laughing, and crying as well as saying, “Aw-w-w-w!”
Matisse may have painted “Madame Matisse, The Green Line” but Mary has the Green Heron in her Heron Overload.
Frank Lloyd Wright was a master architect who envisioned human dwellings that merged with their surroundings. Well, the birds were way ahead of you, Frank, as seen by Aimophila Adventures in his report on Desert Swallows who make their homes in saguaros. And just about as far away from the desert as you can get, Nature Canada reports A Foothold for Piping Plovers in Canada. These bird homes mesh just nicely with their surroundings, their own Taliesin’s of the bird world.
To combine art and birding is not so unusual. In the Wings Birding blog you can read about The Birds and The Bard Birding Tour, for Shakespeare often used bird imagery in his plays and sonnets, as seen below in these lines from Sonnet 29:
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee,—and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate;
One of Goya’s most famous, yet horrifying paintings is that of Kronos devouring one of his children. Kronos is the Greek God of Time and was said to devour his children as Time devours the ages. In the Malaysian Birding Blog a new behavior is observed when a Gold-whiskered Barbet Eats a Eurasian Tree Sparrow. The image of this bird devouring the sparrow reminded me of this image by Goya.
One of Goya’s most famous, yet horrifying paintings is that of Kronos devouring one of his children. Kronos is the Greek God of Time and was said to devour his children as Time devours the ages. In the Malaysian Birding Blog a new behavior is observed when a Gold-whiskered Barbet Eats a Eurasian Tree Sparrow. The image of this bird devouring the sparrow reminded me of this image by Goya.
In c.1615 Peter Paul Reuben’s and Jan Brugel painted The Feast of Achelous depicting a scene where the river god serves up a feast to Theseus and his companions as they are returning from Crete. Gallicissa in Sri Lanka serves up an avian feast to his birding guests in a post he entitles, Making Emma Happy. His visual imagery reminds me of the feasting in the Rueben’s painting, though, I don’t believe there was any nudity going on! Then there is Ben Cruachan Natural History where the birds he sees are the ones feasting and they certainly have A Taste for Exotic Fare.
Whether you agree with him or not, Darwin has had a profound influence on birds, nature, and natural history. In line with his philosophy and theory we have these two entries. Living the Scientific Life: The Escalating Co-evolutionary Arms Race Between Cuckoos And Their Hosts takes you back to basics, while The Greenbelt is a tongue in cheek post about the discovery of A New Species.
N.C. Wyeth, Father of Andrew Wyeth, was a well known illustrator of Children’s books back in the mid 1900’s. He was working on this wall mural for the Met Life Insurance Company when he met his untimely death. If you happen to have some of these Tall Yard Birds come to your feeders or visit your yard, Audubon’s Birdscapes has some timely advice on how to keep them safe.
N.C. Wyeth MuralWhen it’s all said and done and your head is full of birds and birding, you may have what the Bird Chaser describes as BIADD. Perhaps then it is time for a session with Freud or Jung, though I don’t know if either of them could really help most of us obsessive birders. Perhaps we are all part of one collective bird consciousness and we are all connected. Perhaps that is why we recognize our own species when we see it!
