You might NEVER have an understanding of life's secret! (Tuesday's Truths WK 228)

Have you ever walked along the shoreline and felt as if you were really approaching an understanding of life’s secret, when suddenly you spot shorebirds using their long orange beaks to search for food and are immediately humbled into an understanding that you might never know life’s secret?

This question is posed in IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS, my newest book which is available in Apple's Bookstore.

On another note, the bird type I'm referring to and who can be seen in the photo directly above is an American oystercatcher and is featured in volume three of my hardcover book series, Words In Our Beak, which is available on Amazon or wherever books are sold.

Saturday's Sequel (to my 5-20-2019 post)

IMAGE CREDIT

This past May I posted some news re a new beach coming to NYC and in my entry I mentioned a tweeter was hopeful that when this happens, Manhattan will be blessed with visits from a shorebird variety known as the American Oystercatcher.

I've been blessed to have encountered several American Oystercatchers when visiting Long Beach on New York's Long Island.

It's W.E.D. for 2019!

Today, June 5th is World Environment Day (WED). It is a day that has been set aside since 1974 to promote “worldwide awareness and action for the protection of our environment.” Last year’s theme was “beat plastic pollution," and the Mutts comic strip stop this entry, is a small reminder of how plastics can hurt members of the avian and fish community. The following photographs show how plastic (or rather how people's disposal of plastic) harms the creatures among us.

The first two pictures are ones I took in bygone years when I was at Long Beach. The second image (also taken in bygone years) features a Mallard duck, "caught" in debris within NYC's Hudson River.

More info on 2018's W.E.D.'s theme of “beat plastic pollution," can be found within the following three links: https://theatln.tc/2sJsxya and http://bit.ly/2JeDG5l as well as https://ind.pn/2syboIG.

The way people's dispose their plastic is not the only thing harming our avian creatures.

NYC will have a beach in the coming years. (MONDAY'S MEMO)

During one of the cold snaps that we had in NYC this past winter, I saw some news re a new beach coming to NYC (please refer to the screenshot of the tweet which can be seen in the image atop this entry). As you can see the tweeter is hopeful that when and if this happens, Manhattan will be blessed with visits from American Oystercatchers.

Today is National Go Birding Day... and it's Saturday in the Octave of Easter

PIGEONS ARE FEATURED IN "WORDS IN OUR BEAK"

Today is Saturday in the Octave of Easter and has come to my attention that it is also National Go Birding Day. According to a number of sources on the web, this unofficial holiday has always been observed the last Saturday in April.

Perhaps the pigeon featured in my photo atop this entry, where he/she seems to be looking at me from the vantage point of a tabletop in my rooftop garden, thinks of this as a time to go people-ing.

"People-ing," refers to the activity of birds watching humans and it is a term coined by Cam (the cardinal pictured below)...

CARDINALS ARE FEATURED IN "WORDS IN OUR BEAK"

... in volume one of the book series, Words In Our Beak ... in which all the stories are told from her perspective.

THE WORDS IN OUR BEAK BOOK SERIES

Each of these books provide a great way to go birding, for they feature twenty varieties of  avian creatures who spend time in the garden and a few bird varieties from Central Park, the Hudson River and Long Beach are also included.

Friday's Feeling is FROM THE BIRDS

Certain birds are speaking out via a cartoon by Dan Regan (which he did for Shoebox) that something has to be done re the naming of certain birds.

Thursday's Testimony: Confronting Shadows

Maybe because Groundhog Day 2019 has only recently passed, I've been a little obsessed with the topic of seeing/not seeing one's own shadow and am learning to confront mine as Carl Jung suggests everyone should do.

The Fifth Day of Christmas 2018

It's The Fifth Day of Christmas, the day (according to a song) when someones's true love gave to them five golden rings, four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree. In honor of Christmas's Fifth Day, I've posted my photo of an ornament based on today's occasion.

On The Fifth Day of Christmas in 2016, here on Blogger, I included a copy of this same picture along with an interesting backstory today's celebration. If you'd like to read that blog entry, please click here. As you will see that post discussed the relationship of pheasants to today's holiday.

Today I find myself associating five golden rings with a bird type.

A 122nd Anniversary Takes Place today!

Besides this being Plush Animal Lover's Day, today marks the one hundred and twenty-second anniversary of the dedication of the Statue of Liberty. According to a Wikipedia page, the statue was dedicated on October 28, 1886.

The image atop this post features a driftwood sculpture of her that can be found near to Long Beach's Boardwalk (on Long Island in NY).

Monday's Memory stems from PEANUTS...

.... this strip was published on this day of September 10th in 1982. But Charlie Brown is wrong, Summer is never over on September 10th! The official ending of the season for summer in my hemisphere takes place around September 22nd — twelve days after the tenth, CB!

The Sad Story Re NY's Beaches

I have been to a number of NY beaches affected by this heartbreaking news of the discovery regarding medical waste washing up on the shore causing them to be closed in order to protect people and I must say maybe beaches need to be closed to the public to protect the ocean from people.

Thursday's Testimony: Plastics are NOT for the birds (or for any other living creature)...

The comic strip atop this entry was in my inbox today and upon seeing it, I was instantly reminded of a couple of seagulls whom I've seen "collecting plastics" on Long Beach. A couple of my images featuring this disturbing scenario are posted directly below.

It never ceases to amaze me how people litter (for surely no other creature is leaving plastics behind).

Some Facts Regarding Laughing Gulls (Wednesday's Wisdom)

In a recent entry here on Blogger, I mentioned that I had been to Long Beach and learned something new about the Ring-billed seagull: "they pant, like dogs which releases heat through evaporation of moisture along the bird's mouth, throat and lungs" and "because birds lack sweat glands, they do not sweat to cool off like we do. A bird will open its mouth and breath faster, which increases the airflow."

On that same day I noticed a Laughing Gull doing the same thing as evidenced in the photo atop this entry. This avian creature is new to me and marks the twelfth new bird whom I've seen in this Year of the Bird.

My last time seeing a bird who was new to me (who happened to be a gray/grey catbird) occurred on 5/29/2018, an encounter which I wrote here on Blogger at that time.

Be that as it may, since today is Wednesday, the day I set aside for my Wednesday's Wisdom series, I'll be using this opportunity to share some information about the Laughing Gull. After all, part of the definition of wisdom, "or sapience is the ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense and insight."

And the gull seen here is certainly using his/her wisdom to cool down on a hot summer day, however there are a number of other interesting facts re this bird type.

A Seagull's Work Around to a Cooling Center

When the heat index is predicted to be dangerously high, New York City opens cooling centers in air-conditioned facilities to offer people relief from the heat, but since seagulls don't have access to such places, they have their own methods of getting relief from the heat, which is something I learned on a recent trip (this past Thursday) to Long Beach.

Wednesday's Wisdom: "Summer-izing" Books!

Love this cartoon by Mark Parisi! And for Wednesday's Wisdom, I'd like to offer you a way to "summer-ize" (not summarize) your books, dear reader: Take them with you to the ocean to read during these hot summer days, but do so by putting them in my kaleidoscopic-themed totes that are available from Fine America (FAA).

Since, I'm on the subject of reading at the beach, please let me remind you that while both volumes of Cam's book series, Words In Our Beak ...

VOLUMES 1+2

... are great for reading there (or anywhere), part of volume two refers to Cam's (the female cardinal who narrates these stories) trip to Long Beach (on Long Island) where she and her children came upon the bird type known as American Oystercatchers.

It's W.E.D.* 2018! (*World Environment Day) Tuesdays Truths WK 86

As I mentioned in this past Sunday's blog entry, at this time, I am unable to publish entries here on blogger with the frequency that has been my standard for quite some time. I will, at minimum, try and keep my Tuesday's Truths series going.

Today, June 5th, marks my eighty-sixth entry within this series and it happens to coincide with 2018's World Environment Day (WED).

June 5 has been designated by the United Nations as World Environment Day, a day set aside since 1974 to promote “worldwide awareness and action for the protection of our environment.”

This year’s theme is “beat plastic pollution," and the photos stop this entry, are a small reminder of how plastics can hurt the avian community. The first picture is one I took in bygone years when I was at Long Beach. The second image (also taken in bygone years) features a Mallard duck, "caught" in debris within NYC's Hudson River.

More info on 2018's WED theme of “beat plastic pollution," can be found within the following three links: https://theatln.tc/2sJsxya and http://bit.ly/2JeDG5l as well as https://ind.pn/2syboIG.

Happy New Year — Chinese New Year that is.

The figurine, who is featured in the image directly above, joins me today in wishing you, dear reader, a very  Happy New Year — Chinese New Year that is. This date of 2-16-2018 marks the beginning of the Lunar Year, which happens to be The Year of the Dog.

This occasion has nothing to do with the calendar year being named The Year of the Bird in honor of the one hundred year anniversary of  The Migratory Bird Act.

Monday's Musings: "NYC is the place to be if your'e a bird."

Yesterday, Sunday December the seventeenth, was a mostly overcast day in NYC. The temperatures remained in the thirty degree range, so I layered up before heading down to Pier Eleven (near to the Greenway by the Hudson River) to follow the wisdom of the Negro spiritual and "lay down my troubles down by the riverside."

There is nothing like a walk in the park to clear one's head and Riverside Park is one of the best places to do that in Manhattan. As I made my way across the pier, I came upon a lone Ring-billed seagull (seen in the image atop this entry) who also knew about this respite on the UWS.

Sunday's Sentiments for 10-29-2017

Yesterday, Saturday, October 28th, marked the one hundred and twenty-first anniversary of the dedication of The Statue of Liberty. According to a Wikipedia page, the statue was dedicated on October 28, 1886. She can be standing in NYC's harbor (from the vantage point of Red Hook in Brooklyn), in the first image atop this entry. The second image features a driftwood sculpture of her.

That particular image (which was was included in an entry here on Blogger this past June), was taken by yours truly when I made a trip to Long Beach (on Long Island in NY) with my sister a number of years ago.

Wednesday's Wisdom: "The Ground Effect" (Enables seagulls to glide low to the ground.)

It's been eightenteen days since I made my first beach trip for the 2017 year, and I am still in awe of what I witnessed re the seagulls who I encountered there (Long Beach on Long Island in NY).

In addition to learning of the differences between Herring Gulls and Ring-billed gulls, as well as seeing seagulls bathing in the Atlantic, I was reminded of just how low seagulls flew; as evidenced in the photographs atop this entry.

During my visits to both Long Beach and the beach at Robert Moses State Park in bygone years, I  had witnessed seagulls flying very low. At that time I researched what might be causing them to do this, and I learned that "there is in aerodynamics, a phenomenon called 'Ground Effect.' (The effect of added aerodynamic buoyancy produced by a cushion of air below a vehicle moving close to the ground.) It is where the air under a wing is being squeezed between the wing and the ground. The height of the ground effect depends on the size of the wing. So seagulls glide close to the surface because it is easier to glide there. Pelicans use ground effect, as do other sea birds."

I discussed these findings in a 2013 posting here on Blogger which you may reference by clicking here.

Meanwhile, more pictures of the low flying gulls, who I saw on October 7, 2017 can be found directly below.