Halcyon-dalcyon
Littoral Kingfishers
hover by seashores on
flashing blue wings.
Monarchs beware of their
literal-mindedness;
given the choice they’d be
fishing for kings.
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Year: 2008
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Ospreys, monogamy and stupidity
There’s an exceptionally stupid article by Magnus Linklater in the Times today. He talks about the recovery of the British osprey population over the past 50 years with reference to their apparent monogamy and long-term pair bonds. The article ends:
What the osprey demonstrates is that, whatever indiscretions may be committed in the course of a relationship, a stable family background is ultimately the best guarantee that the species will prosper. It works for ospreys. It probably works for humans too.
So why is this exceptionally stupid? Well, it seems like almost too obvious to have to say, but: we are not ospreys.
And all you have to do is choose a different species and it enables you to draw a completely different lesson. Like for example that other fine Scottish bird, the capercaillie, which teaches us that the recipe for a successful species is for all the men to gather together and fight over the best spots to dance and sing in front of the women, with a handful of the strongest, funkiest and loudest men fathering children on all of them. Or perhaps we should learn from the herring, and millions and millions of us all gather together once a year and have a vast mass orgy.
By all means argue for monogamy: just don’t drag the ospreys into it.
» Ospreys mating was posted to Flickr by allspice1 and is used under a CC by-nd licence.
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Napowrimo #15: The Platypus
Privately, the platypus feels
it’s only rotten luck
that people don’t refer instead
to the platypus-billed duck.
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Links
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The larger moon, Phobos, is indeed seen to be a cratered, asteroid-like object in this stunning color image from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, recorded at a resolution of about seven meters per pixel.
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Napowrimo #14: The mason bird
The remarkable nest of the weaver bird
is passably well known;
less famous is the mason bird
which carves a nest from stone.
The proportions can be clumsy;
there’s a tendency to schlock,
a rather Disney mixture
of the Gothic and Baroque;
some ornamental flourishes
are let down by poor technique.
But not bad for a bird holding
a chisel in its beak.
~~~~
[I did write one for yesterday, but it was purely to say I’d written one and even by Napo standards it wasn’t worth posting]
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Napowrimo #12: Giraffe
The usual way to spot giraffe
is by their penetrating laugh;
so those which are a bit dejected
frequently go undetected.