A Morning Stroll

It is warm on the last day of February, over 50 already. Many plants are reaching to the sun for another part of their annual cycle. Susan and I went for a walk at dusk yesterday and saw a number of things showing up. For me, the sound of the Mourning Dove was great. I love their call- it is something that I've heard from the high deserts of New Mexico and Joshua Tree to our backyard. Their voice is something I never tire of hearing and it was great to see them feeding beneath the feeders.

The Indian Plum (Chokecherry) is also blooming. In the plant book they describe the fragrance as a cross between watermelon and cat urine... really enticing! This is one of those native plants that seem to take really well to the land.

I'd planned on making this mostly a photo blog this week, but for some reason I can't get photos to link up to the Blogger site. I'll keep working on it... that is the reason you didn't see images of the Sapsuckers last week.

Why is it that we want to know the names of things? What is it that drives people to spend millions of dollars on plant and bird identification books or trivia books? Why do we want to know? I think partly it is because we define ourselves in contrast to things outside of ourselves. We know more about ourselves as we make distinctions and similarities with those things that are outside ourselves. Also, I think it is because we are creatures who make meaning of things and want to communicate with each other, especially with those who have our similar interests.

For some people, bird is enough to describe the animal that just flew by. Whereas, someone else wants to make finer and finer distinctions. This is just like someone who likes the finer and finer descriptions of wine, cheese, or the bouquet from roses. Why do we do this? Is it because we want a specialized language for those who are like us- our "tribe"? It is a way to distinguish between those who are in our tribe of birders/winers/buggers? There is so much information that comes into our brain and I guess it becomes a way for us to sort what we'll pay attention to and what we won't.

When I open up the plant identification book and see that, yes, it is Indian Plum- I am connecting with other people who are interested in plants and other people who identify plants. I haven't become one of the tribal members who can say that this is Oemleria cerasiformis (species and genus)- that is a different tribe. (This tribe still speaks in a dead language for live plants). We are all part of overlapping tribes: shared languages, customs, traditions, rituals. I imagine there are anthropologists who cringe when tribes are used in this manner, but I think it is intriguing to consider that we are no longer isolated like tribes of the pre- city/state. Though we do have tribal, clan, and famalial affiliations that are no longer geographical.

So, today I will sign off to the electronic tribe that reads English and that some affiliation with me and this little plot of land in Oregon on this great big spinning globe called Earth. Health to you all.