The world is a mask that hides the real world.
Thatâs what everybody suspects, though the world we see wonât let us dwell on it long.
The world has ways - more masks - of getting our attention.
The suspicion sneaks in now and again, between the cracks of everyday existenceâ¦the bird song dips, rises, dips, trails off into blue sky silence before the note that would reveal the shape of a melody that, somehow, would tie everything together, on the verge of unmasking the hidden armature that frames this sky, this tree, this bird, this quivering green leaf, jewels in a crown.â¦
As the song dies, the secret withdraws.
The tree is a mask.
The sky is a mask.
The quivering green leaf is a mask.
The song is a mask.
The singing bird is a mask.
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
cali Grapes beat Bears, badly
Bears as 'wine country casualties'
Editor,
I was appalled after reading Peter Fimrite's article, "Wine country casualties" (Dec. 26). It describes the slaughter of bears and deer because they damage wine grapes in Napa County.
There are thousands of acres of open, forested land in California's northern counties that would make a suitable habitat for these animals. Wouldn't relocating them to these areas be a more humane solution to the problem?
If there is a reasonable argument against relocation that I haven't thought of, I'd really like to hear it.
RICH FOLEY
Sausalito
Editor,
I was saddened but not surprised by the article about the plight of our native bears and even cougars being targeted for death by vintners.
As humans further encroach on these majestic animals, of course sightings and "incidents" increase. We have driven many animals to extinction, and most others have been exterminated from their normal ranges by human "development."
It is sad that human greed and shortsightedness keep pushing these original inhabitants of "our" lands ever further into retreat and decline. Ideally, we could set up a grassroots-driven "Wildlife Conservation Act" akin to the original Coastal Conservation Act. But the state proposition process has been so co-opted by powerful industry lobbyists that it is likely impossible to achieve anything meaningful by that route. Still, it is worth a try.
In the meantime vintners and ranchers should be required to set up stronger, and electrified, fences before any "depredation" (execution) permits are approved. Vintners and others wishing to destroy our wildlife should be required to try to trap and relocate animals several times first.
We California citizens also need to wrest the "depredation" permitting process away from the feds. If Californians aren't willing to curtail further intrusive "development" into wildlife's last safe places, we must take steps to ensure our native fauna's dignity, safety and right to survive and even thrive.
DAVID SHEFIK
Berkeley
Editor,
Seems to me that we've got a lot more vineyards in the coastal mountains than we have bears. I'd rather see the bears.
ERIC JEWETT
Los Gatos
[cross-posted from To the Editor, must-read letters to the editor]
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
meet zephyr the peregrine falcon!
'Special' falcon lands in the Poconos
by Susan Koomar, Pocono Record
December 27, 2005
He's not a turtle dove or even a partridge in a pear tree but the new bird in town is pretty darned special.
Meet Zephyr, a peregrine falcon adopted by Pocono Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.
Zephyr, a peregrine falcon recently adopted by the Pocono Wildlife Rehab Center in Cherry Valley. [Mark A. Genito/Pocono Record]
He's a retired Air Force fly boy bred in captivity and used to prevent bird-plane collisions by chasing smaller birds off runways.
Sleek and stunningly handsome, Zephyr embodies the royal mystique of falconry with the ability to achieve blinding speeds while airborne.
"Truly regal. You can just tell from his demeanor," said Kathy Dubin Uhler, director of the wildlife rehabilitation center.
Uhler donned long elkhide gloves and carefully removed Zephry from a wooden box.
He flapped briefly before settling into a proud pose.
His dark eyes flashed as he probed the crisp December air with his sharp, hooked beak.
"Can you see why we're enthralled?" asked Uhler. "There's just something about him. He's quite special."
Peregrine falcons are an endangered species. Like other birds of prey, they were decimated by the pesticide DDT in the 1950s and 1960s.
They were reintroduced in the 1970s after DDT was banned.
A pair of peregrines nested on a cliff above Delaware Water Gap in 2003 stirring excitement among birders.
Uhler has been trying to obtain a peregrine for her educational programs for 10 years.
"When you have a new animal in an area people want to see them close up," she said.
Uhler found Zephyr through an instructor at a conference she attended. She was the only person in the class who could define operant conditioning — basically "teaching a dog to sit because you gave him a biscuit," she said.
The instructor tossed her a toy falcon as a prize. Uhler spoke to him after class and discovered he could help her adopt a real falcon.
"See, education is a wonderful thing," Uhler gushed. "It got me a bird."
Uhler and her husband, Eric, traveled to Buffalo in an ice storm to get the prized bird on Dec. 16.
"He's magnificent," said Eric Uhler as he took a turn holding Zephyr. "I'm in awe of this thing."
Zephyr will have his local debut when Uhler presents wildlife programs at elementary schools after the holidays.
The falcon will also be featured at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day program at the new DaVinci Science Center in Allentown.
The Pocono Wildlife Rehabilitation Center will host an open house in spring where the public can visit Zephyr and some of the 1,500 animals that recuperate there every year.
One of the latest patients is a captive bred bobcat that was given a latex ball to play with. He ate it and the plastic lodged in the bottom of his stomach, requiring surgery.
Uhler is available to present programs for school and community groups.
The center is seeking donations to cover about $300 in costs associated with Zephyr's adoption.
Kathy Uhler, director of the Pocono Wildlife Rehab Center in Cherry Valley, shows off Zephyr, the new peregrine falcon adopted by the wildlife center to help promote awareness of this endangered species. [Mark A. Genito/Pocono Record]
