[nfbmi-talk] Beautiful! Donna Published by Cornell

Fri Jun 1 14:07:35 UTC 2012

Congratulations Donna, you are on the way to the top!

Go For IT, Girl!

Changing what it means to be blind,
Marcus Simmons, vice-president,
Western-Wayne chapter
28179 Brentwood
Southfield, MI 48076-3069
Marcus.Simmons at interbizusa.com
(248) 552-8928
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fred Wurtzel" <f.wurtzel at att.net>
To: "'NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List'" <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2012 11:18 AM
Subject: [nfbmi-talk] Beautiful! Donna Published by Cornell

> Hello,
>
>
>
> Cornell university is the world leader in bird research.  It is an honor 
> to
> be recognized and published by this prestigious university.
> Congratulations, Donna.
>
>
>
> If you want to hear the birds in the article follow the link below and you
> will get to the web version of the article where there are links to each
> bird sound. To follow the link use your keyboard to navigate until you 
> hear
> your speech tell you you are on the link.  You will hear HTTP and a bunch 
> of
> stuff.  Arrow to the you hear htt or any of the letters in the link and
> press enter.  If the sun is shining, the hands of the clock are properly
> positioned, you are not wearing plaid with stripes, hopefully, you will 
> get
> to the web page to fully enjoy this very well done article.
>
>
>
> http://www.birds.cornell.edu/roundrobin/2012/04/19/sensing-natures-beauty-in
> -sound-scent-and-touch/
>
>
>
> Warm Regards,
>
>
>
> Fred
>
> Sensing Nature's Beauty in Sound, Scent, and Touch
>
> The spring 2012 issue of BirdScope recaps the
>
> Great Backyard Bird Count
>
> and takes a look at one particularly skilled set of participants. The
> "Michigan Bird
>
> Brains" are a youth birding team organized by teacher
>
> Donna Posont
>
> . All of the members, including Donna, are blind, yet the woods are just 
> as
> full
>
> to them as they are to any of us-as Donna shows us in this lyrical essay
> about a
>
> summer walk along the trails of Camp Tuhsmeheta in western Michigan (click
> the links
>
> to hear a
>
> Macaulay Library
>
> recording of each sound):
>
> Courtesy University of Michigan - Dearborn
>
> Trees are our guideposts in the woods. Walking along the trail, tapping 
> tree
> roots
>
> with our canes, we stop and feel where a
>
> Pileated Woodpecker
>
> pounded into a tree trunk looking for insects. On another tree trunk,
> inquisitive
>
> fingertips tell us an insect planned to reproduce by using it as a 
> hatchery.
> The
>
> tree fought back by growing a protective gall around the area and 
> radically
> changed
>
> those plans. That whisper-soft thump is an acorn let loose by an oak. The
> feel of
>
> peeling, paper-like bark lets us know we are standing beside a white 
> birch.
> If one
>
> of my companions picks up a leaf, its toothy edges reveal it comes from an
> American
>
> elm. The balsam firs guide us to a nearby picnic pavilion.
>
> Moving down to the lake it's wonderful to breathe deep and take in the 
> scent
> of the
>
> wild columbine blooming in June. Behind the thick undergrowth a catbird is
> claiming
>
> his territory. Up over the wooded hill there is an ever present chorus of
>
> Eastern Wood-Pewees
>
> ,
>
> Blue Jays
>
> ,
>
> Red-eyed Vireos
>
> ,
>
> American Robins
>
> , and the always-delightful
>
> Black-capped Chickadees
>
> . The occasional
>
> Ovenbird
>
> is calling for the "
>
> teacher-teacher-teacher
>
> ."  In the middle of it all we hear the "yanking" of the
>
> White-breasted Nuthatch
>
> , walking upside-down to find his meal. We heard a
>
> Barred Owl
>
> here recently during one of our jaunts. He didn't stay in one spot for 
> long,
> probably
>
> busy hunting for a mouse. The kids love this bird's questioning call:
>
> Who, who cooks for you, who cooks for you now
>
> ?
>
> Along the sandy beach there is a new chorus performing for our auditory
> delight.
>
> To the left, in the tallest oak tree, a
>
> Red-winged Blackbird
>
> utters hisoak-a-ree
>
> greeting. He isn't really being friendly, only trying to draw attention 
> away
> from
>
> his multiple mates nesting in the cattails. On the other side of a bridge 
> a
> pair
>
> of
>
> Baltimore Orioles
>
> is singing, claiming this neck of the woods for nesting. The melody of the
> male oriole
>
> is answered by a chattering female flying over the lake. She may be 
> carrying
> a twig
>
> or grass in her beak to line her nest. Around Flanagan Lake, the chorus
> includes
>
> Song Sparrows
>
> ,
>
> Northern Cardinals
>
> ,
>
> Common Yellowthroats
>
> , and thepeter-peter-peter
>
> call of a
>
> Tufted Titmouse
>
> . If we manage to get there early enough, we might hear a gagging sound 
> that
> can
>
> only be the
>
> Great Blue Heron
>
> patrolling for his morning breakfast of fish. A
>
> green frog
>
> utters his strumming banjo sound to accompany the lakeside singers.
> Sometimes my
>
> fellow hikers feel the imprint of a hoof in the mud where a deer ventured 
> to
> the
>
> edge of the lake for a cool drink.
>
> Next we wander to the camp's Botting Garden where blueberries, 
> raspberries,
> and strawberries
>
> grow. The raised herb bed is home to aromatic basil, lemon thyme, English
> thyme,
>
> sage, chives, tarragon, chamomile, and cilantro. Cherry tomatoes grow 
> among
> the herbs
>
> too. The fragrant scent of lavender leads us to the perennial bed, where 
> we
> find
>
> more columbine and some dainty foxglove. Interspersed among the vegetable
> and fruit
>
> beds are marigolds and nasturtiums, nature's own insect repellents.
>
> Without sight, our other senses are fine-tuned to nature's rhythms and we
> find ourselves
>
> in harmony as she reveals herself to us through touch, sound, and scent.
>
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