[nfbmi-talk] Beautiful! Donna Published by Cornell

Fri Jun 1 23:20:06 UTC 2012

Very cool.  That is indeed a fether in your cap.

Mary Ann  Robinson
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Marcus Simmons" <MarcusSimmons at comcast.net>
To: "NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List" <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, June 01, 2012 10:07 AM
Subject: Re: [nfbmi-talk] Beautiful! Donna Published by Cornell

> 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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