Frogs 'croak Birds 'chirp

Interestingly enough on a nature walk this afternoon I heard but a single frog croaking who made just one 'croak noise. Several moments later another noise that reminded me of a bullfrog came about in a manner suggestive of life-in-a-swamp.

Frogs and turtles go hand in hand. Both have a zen-like way of being submerged and then peering out of the water.

Then out of nowhere a bird will make a call and the frog might notice it. Another way to test a frogs awareness or intelligence is to watch it for a while and test its ability to recognize your presence without casting a shadow over its body.

Bullfrogs. So many frog species.

Turtles. Box, painted, CRAZY snapping turtles. not to mention sea turtles which are of their own category, same goes with tortoises (how about the 181 year old tortoise named "Jonathan" found on St.Helena near Africa).

little snakey snake

Green Snakes

Green snakes like to slither out of the bushes in front of you when you are walking down a path.

This has almost NOTHING to do with birds (but its relevant)

For the past few weeks I've been in a state of worry for well being of sharks. Today I felt that I had to share. This is because I have a copy of the new Town and Country magazine, with the lovely Mariel Hemingway and Langley Fox on the cover. WHAT does T & C have to do with sharks? Well, turn to page 103 and you will notice a full page ad with Oceana and January Jones explaining how shark populations are crashing around the world and that "healthy oceans need sharks". I was happy to see the ad because ever since I watched an episode of Tavis Smiley with Don Cheadle as a guest.

Don Cheadle went on vacation to the Baja in Mexico. His daughter, who is about 14 went snorkeling. She wants to be a marine biologist whens she grows up... when she went snorkeling, she noticed not a lot of the beautiful coral dwelling fish. Why was this? Well...........

Apparently, Chinese fisherman paid people in Mexico to hunt and kill as many sharks as possible (not sure of the exact number but A LOT) so that they could fish for the fish that they like, since the sharks were eating them. This messed with the coral reefs delicate ecosystem. Suffice to say, the colorful tropical fish can't survive with out the big time predators that sharks are.

Plenty of questions came up after watching this, one: Is this ethical? Do people take morals and ethical practices serious in world-wide business today? On the other hand, has that ever been the case? China and Mexico seem like a dangerous duo and I mean that with the utmost respect. Does China really put such a high value on fresh caught wild fish that they are willing to wantonly destroy the beloved shark population? Do they have a problem against farm raised fish. answer to this one: I had a taste test with farm raised and wild caught grilled salmon. one of the salmon fillets had the traditional salmon color to it and the other had more of orange hue. Both tasted great, although there were quasi-remarkable differences. Adaptation. I had to adapt to the farm raised flavor.

I'm curious if Oceana will confront the Chinese fishing industry (the president ? their pr people?) and/ or Mexico's HR and talk to them about how we need to keep our sharks swimming around eating their prey. They could have a nice conversation about this and see where it leads. Open water territory is fishy in general. Also, how high of a value do you place on coral reefs? Sharks? There are many, many different species of sharks. Especially in the pacific and its a real shame to waste them away.

Jamie Wyeth Self Portrait

The Congo: viva la African Grey

The African Grey

The Congo is full of emerald mystery, deep intrigue, and of course the most i n t e l l i g e n t bird of all. The African Grey. Supposedly the African Grey is hand in hand with the highland gorilla. Both have shown on the record to be able to communicate to people either through sign language (gorilla) or actually talking (the grey). Think about Koko the Gorilla and Alex the Grey.

I think it's important to visualize the African Grey in the wild, because of its rare color combination. Grey and red. Is gray a color? Ask artist Jamie Wyeth and he will probably say yes.

Picturing

The African Grey

Peeping out of a forest of green is

Something

I could get into.