environment

The Creek’s Edge

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Creek-E(motion)-2Here we are at the edges again. The creek overflowing onto the rich earth, buds swelling on the tips of branches, patchy tufts of green grass, the sun falling away. This sepia-toned world won’t last too long now.

I had trouble finding a way to mark this particular transition but I kept working at it. A single image wasn’t working so I made some in-camera double exposures. One frame with movement and one without. Sort of like layering a quick sketch and a detailed drawing. Somehow this came closer to capturing the allure of the in-between.

Today is Earth Day, and many of the same issues that fueled the first Earth day in 1970 are just as immediate as they were 44 years ago. We are still on the edges of possibility.

© Karen McRae, 2014

Road Stories 2 ~ the edges of

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Left-Behind-_-Light-TrailsThe edges of the city in that in-between light at the edge of the day. It seems too we are in the fray of both winter and spring. But were making progress. It’s okay that it’s not moving along too quickly; I am trying to savour the slow release of the earth and the lethargic inching up of the thermometre.

Transitions can happen so quickly that there are times you can’t get to them. Can’t be in them. They are gone before you arrive. But the edges, they are full of possibilities too.

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[These images were made while traveling in a moving car]

© Karen McRae, 2014

Incremental Spring

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AfterWinter2These little seed heads in my garden keep calling me back to look at them and I like observing their changes as they advance through the seasons and work their way out of the snow. Somehow they still hold a whisper of the faded colours of summer.

Spring is in no hurry, really, but under the trees there are finally circles of earth, damp and tarnished from the winter. These hopeful patches might hold a gentle robin or a few starlings jabbing hungrily at the ground, and today for the first time I am hearing the lovely lilt of a red-winged blackbird. We are grateful for any bits of spring that we find even if it is simply the incremental folding back of the snow or a few pussy willows breaking through their skins.

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Below: The first pussy willows, a couple of weeks old now…Pussy-willow

© Karen McRae, 2014

World Wildlife Day

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Rock-Iguana1Since today is the first(!) official World Wildlife Day I thought I would post some photographs of an at-risk species I was introduced to on my trip to the Bahamas. These are Bahamian Rock Iguanas that live on many of the small islands in the Exuma Cays. These iguanas are on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List as a threatened species. On some islands there are a number of factors putting them at risk such as poaching and other (introduced) animals including cats, dogs and feral pigs (more about the pigs later!), but I was particularly interested in the impact of ecotourism (since I was there as a tourist myself) and the fact that they are often fed by people visiting the islands.

As our boat pulled up to the sandy beach one could see many iguanas sitting there on the sand, and oddly they didn’t move away when our small group stepped out of the boat and walked to the shore. These wild reptiles are now quite familiar with human intrusion and have little fear. They were waiting for food. As honoured as I felt to be walking among these beautiful creatures their lack of fear left me kind of unsettled.

If you want to delve further into the complicated relationship between tourism and conservation here is a paper evaluating just that: Effects of ecotourism on endangered northern Bahamian Rock Iguanas (Cyclura cyclura)
– Hines, K. 2011. Herpetological Conservation and Biology Vol 6, No. 2:250–259]

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And here are some interesting facts about the Northern Bahamian rock iguana from the Bahamas National Trust website:

  • Rock iguanas used to be eaten by early inhabitants of The Bahamas. Today it is illegal to harm or capture a Rock iguana.
  • The Andros Rock iguana is the largest iguana in The Bahamas and can attain a length of nearly five to six feet.
  • The most threatened Bahamian iguanas are the San Salvador iguanas.
  • The serrated ridge along the spine of the Rock iguana radiates excess heat from the iguana’s body. In territorial displays this ridge makes the iguana appear larger to its adversaries.
  • Iguanas are equipped with breakable tails which cleave off neatly when seized by a hand or a predator.A new tail begins to regenerate immediately.
  • Rock iguanas can live for up to forty years!

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© Karen McRae, 2014

Ragged February Flowers

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FebruaryFlowers5After a bit of warmer weather a few days ago, I noticed some of the tiny seed heads from last year had managed to make their way up through the snow for some air. I think it will be a while before any more of them show their ragged little heads; we are back to winter and that snow is still thick over the earth. I like seeing how they change over the seasons so I took a few photographs this morning as we shivered together in the wind. Happily, they are still filled with little seeds of hope.

© Karen McRae, 2014

The Shape of Winter, Elsewhere

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SandbarRipples5 In this version of winter you cast off your boots and bulky layers and place your feet directly on the warm sand. Sand that you have gratefully borrowed for just a week. And you can’t stop looking at those marine blues of the sea and the graceful patterns the water makes. You want them etched in your mind forever. Damn, we live in a gorgeous world.

A counterpoint to the previous post, I guess. I’ve been away – feet in the sand, head in the clouds blue sky.

[Near and far views of the shifting landscape of Exuma, Bahamas. Sigh.]

© Karen McRae, 2014