Of birds & hedges & flights of imagination
During an afternoon walk this past January, I photographed this sweet bird (possibly a house sparrow) perched on a bare branch. Though I also collected images of seawall art, early-flowering shrubs & birch bark trees, it was my favourite "capture" of the day. And ever since that afternoon -- and I suppose for a long time before, too -- I've wondered why small creatures with feathers and wings so enthrall and intrigue bipedal, ground-based humans like me. Well, I suppose there's an obvious clue in the phrase bipedal, ground-based humans. But I'm also continually looking for more scientific as well as poetic reasons. So one night, when I had trouble sleeping, instead of counting sheep, I read words on birds and wrote this post for The Hedge Society: