I was doing a yoga session in my living room on a sunny, Sunday morning, with Adriene on Youtube coaching me on the big screen. From a Forward Fold position, getting a really nice stretch, I moved into a Mountain Pose, when I happened to look out the window into our backyard. I noticed a woodpecker in the tree. A peck here, a chisel there, it was just hopping around contentedly. But it was alone. While most birds seem to come in female/male pairs, or flocks; woodpeckers, I have noticed, are always alone.
This was my contemplation, as I moved into a Downward Dog pose. Do woodpeckers have a personality problem, maybe too bossy or territorial, or are they just loners? I thought of the phrase, “if you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail”. I know that many bird species mate for life. Kind of like humans, unless there’s a divorce.
But birds can’t get divorced, separation more likely from a successful coyote or a Cooper’s Hawk.
Moving into a Plank Pose, I pondered birds in a flock. For me, these flocks seem like a vast, chaotic mayhem, especially when they all have the same colouring. I wonder if they can even tell each other apart, or is it a bird orgy.
And I wonder if there’s some hanky-panky going on here, or same-sex curiosity. I’ve seen this kind of behavior in ducks.
Finally, as I whisper “Namaste”, I wonder if we all look the same to birds. What do birds, and animals in general, think of humans? This is serious stuff to meditate on… and keep you in the present moment.
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[Click on any photo for the slideshow. Please leave comments at the bottom of the page]
Fine dining at Spadina and Harbord
Yorkville
Yorkville
My Journal (Week 49. Common Object)
The black sand of Reynisfjara Beach, Iceland (Week 50. Black and White Minimalism)
The Gothic Vampire Cafe (Queen St. West)
The Gothic Vampire Cafe (Queen St. West)
The Gothic Vampire Cafe (Queen St. West)
Mont Tremblant
Mont Tremblant
Mont Tremblant
Mont Tremblant
Mont Tremblant (Week 51. In The Middle)
Mont Tremblant
Mont Tremblant
Mr. Wizard. Get me the hell out of here! (Week 52)
shot with a Pinhole camera
(Week 53. Break the Rules – shot with a Pinhole camera
The Standing Stones of Humber (shot with a Pinhole camera)
Self-Portrait (2022 Week 1)
January 4, 2022 at 10:55 pm
Len, Is the pin hole camera a camera you made, or is the photo a simulation of what a pin hole camera would produce using a modern camera?
January 4, 2022 at 11:59 pm
Len, this is a DIY pinhole. Basically it’s the body cap for a Fuji X-E2s digital camera with a pinhole. These 3 photos are SOOC (straight out of the camera). And here’s the poem I wrote for the week 53 photo…
Beautiful Blur
Divided world
Black and white
Rich and poor
Left and right
We are sharp
But disconnected
Beautiful blur
Will save the world
January 5, 2022 at 9:07 pm
Len, to answer your question, the reason woodpeckers are always alone is because they’re peckers.
January 5, 2022 at 9:51 pm
Oh! that makes sense. Now I understand. and… Happy New Year Bern!