Month: March 2021

birdwatching

Love will get you through anything
A pair of nesting Bald Eagles in Big Bear, named, Jackie and Shadow, have been taking turns incubating a pair of eggs above the lake shoreline.  Unfortunately, their first set of eggs were destroyed earlier this year by marauding ravens. Here is an amazing shot of Jackie sitting protectively on their new eggs two days ago, through our recent snow storm. (Courtesy of John Clearwater)
Bugs

‘Like insects waking to th’ advancing spring’
Trout Unlimited’s Bob Blankenship spotted this mayfly near the LA River. Spring is in the air. (Courtesy Bob Blankenship)
The mayfly has played a role throughout human history, appearing in the lower righthand corner of this famous Albrecht Dürer‘s engraving The Holy Family with the Mayfly, 1495. Lasting only a few hours, depending on the species, the mayfly symbolizes the transitoriness of life. (Courtesy National Gallery of Art)

In shoals the hours their constant numbers bring
Like insects waking to th’ advancing spring;
Which take their rise from grubs obscene that lie
In shallow pools, or thence ascend the sky:
Such are these base ephemeras, so born
To die before the next revolving morn.
— George Crabbe, “The Newspaper”, 1785

Mayflies are totally prehistoric, with their distinctive wing profile. More than 3,000 species make up the Ephemeroptera, a wonderful word I first read just recently in an old British tome about bugs on the water. If you have spent any time at your vise during the pandemic, I’ll bet you’ve tied more than a few dries, as well as imitations of the rest of their life cycle, which is mostly spent as a nymph.

See you on the water, Jim Burns