Birds, Feathers and Bones

Cardinals, Fireflies and Eagles, Oh My, How Time did Fly!

November at Utah Lake — November Storm at Utah Lake

It is November. Some how the summer got away from me. July folded and stitched itself directly to this month of declining light, leaving August through October tumbled in that shaded pocket.

Work keeps me very active late summer through Halloween. Family events, unexpected surprises and some pretty big life challenges, furthermore, made quick work of July’s crafting project.

One of the unexpected turns that came about at the end of September, is the addition of two new fur babies in the form of orphaned feral kittens. Yeah…I thought I was going to foster them, but who am I kidding? Long story short, Luna Rueyn and Mi Suri Bella (Misu) are not going to be leaving any time soon. At 10 weeks they are the sweetest bundles of smokey tortoiseshell mischief that this surrogate kitty mom could ever wish for. Even if I didn’t wish for them in the first place. Oh well…I’m sunk.

Bottle fFeeding

5 Weeks Old

7 weeks Old

Mi Suri Bella

Luna Rueyn

10 weeks Old

November isn’t waiting around for anyone either and I am deep in the process of playing catch up and get ready as the holiday season is knocking at or rather knocking down the door, it seems.

House in Killen, Al — My Brother and Sister in Law’s new home in AL.

Summer found me wandering in many novel (to me) places as I helped my brother and sister in law move from Fort Collins, Colorado all the way to Killin. Alabama. I’m still not sure I have forgiven them for that far away migration, but I certainly made the most of the adventure.

Who knew that the eastern side of Kansas, would be so lush and green? Certainly I didn’t! In my mind Kansas had always been one long stretch of flat dry prairie. I basically viewed it as a tornado runway where ones entire house might be lifted up and deposited in another dimension no matter where it was located withing the boundaries of this state. (Thank you L. Frank Baum and Hollywood). But this is not so! The geology seems to change about midway through, with flat land turning to gently rolling wooded hills which grow greener in intensity on through Missouri all the way to Bamy.

For the first time I experienced the vast and ambling waterscapes of the Great Mississippi and Tennessee rivers. The later of which whose shoreline I got to wander along. These two mammoth rivers flow so very different from the rough and ready tumble of the Provo and American Fork rivers along the Wasatch. My rocky mountain homegrowns seem more like creeks in comparison.

In the backyard of my brother’s new home, I fell into a wonderment of crimson – a curious cardinal, and became utterly enchanted by the ethereal flight of the lightening bug. I have been told there are such insects in Utah at certain times of the year. I might have to make this a quest for the future.

My daily walks around the country roads of Northern Alabama, were orchestrated by an ever present cacophony of cicada serenading from patches of wooded acreage. This is such a singular music, falling somewhere between buzzing of electrical wires and high tenor lawn mower. The cicada population of this year is an annual species and not the anticipated 13 (Magicicada) variety that is expected to emerge in 2024.

Morning Glory Vine — Pretty blue morning glory bloom adorning a long leaf pine tree near my brother’s home.

In this part of the country, long leaf pine, maple and beeches wear shawls of trumpet vine, morning glory and wisteria. This dense greenery echos the moss covered forest of the pacific northwest where I spent my teenage years. It feels familiar and appears so similar, yet remains distinct in flora and fauna from that found in the Willamette Valley and along the coast of Oregon.

While in the area I took the opportunity to visit the Florence Indian Mound and Museum. This indigenous built mound was first constructed over 1500 years ago. I climbed the steep stairway that allows visitors of the museum to explore the precipice. Always, I am humbled by these places, feeling a deep human connection, despite the troubled history of colonization. I walked the perimeter of the apex to gaze out over a landscape that stretched far to the horizon, unbroken or hemmed in by sharp peaks as it is where I live in the mountain west. The experience was beautiful, ineffable…

Sacred Way Sanctuary Horses I, also, very much wanted to visit the Sacred Way Sanctuary. This invaluable interpretive center, horse refuge and trading post houses more than 100 Indigenous American horses whose lineages go back for centuries and hearken from several different tribal groups. The sanctuary is further home to the remnants of ancient equine species, 0ne that roamed North America during the ice ages long before the Spanish conquistadors arrived and introduced the European breeds to the vast grasslands of this continent.

I am sad to say they were not open for business while I was at brother’s house, so I was unable to actually participate in the tours and informative activities at the facility.

Making Friends with Sweet Sanctuary Horse

I had to settle, instead, for a drive out to the Sanctuary where I was, thankfully, able to greet a few horses that were grazing happily in a fenced pasture. One of them was particularly interested in investigating this strange woman standing along the fence-line looking on so longingly. As I have always had a huge affinity with the horse, this place is top of my list to visit when I return.

Mom and Me in Gazebo at Elk Mountain Hotel — Mom and Me at Elk Mountain Hotel

On my way back to Utah, I spent an extra week in Fort Collins, Colorado. During this time I was finally able to take my mom to Elk Mountain, Wyoming to visit the historic township and tour the wonderful Elk Mountain Museum.

My mom spent her most cherished childhood days rambling over the wooded terrain of this Wyoming giant; Her family taking residence in a tiny cabin, while her dad worked a local lumber mill. Throughout my own childhood, I have been happily regaled by tails of her adventures rambling around her beloved woodland home as a free spirited wilderness woman.

Elk Mountain juts dramatically from the surrounding grasslands through which the Medicine Bow River gently idles. Stunning and picturesque, this solitary inselburg and once sacred summit of the plains peoples, has been purchased by a single entity and proclaimed private property. No one is able to wander past the foothills these days without permission. Despite this, my mom and I drove up the hillside as far as we could go. We stopped to pick wildflowers and to collect rocks form this motherland; Touchstones connecting to that spunky, curious, wonderful child that forever shines from within my mother’s cornflower blue eyes.

Fall 2023 Wasatch Hills

Back home in Utah, we have enjoyed a spectacular fall. The changing of the leaves from summer greens to russet, amber and ocher set the mountains a flame by late September. This fiery display burned clear through October before cooling slowly to brown and crisping embers. The first snow took us by surprise just after Halloween, dropping temperatures over 20 degrees over night. This I did not love so much.

Through it all, I have continued to find respite, solace and beauty through wandering the wilderness spaces.

Stormy Utah Lake Along the expansive shoreline at Utah Lake this morning, storm clouds mist the wind swept water, as well as myself as I meander through the shallows. Suddenly I catch sight of a large dark shape skimming and then rising above the water line…to big for hawk or gull, it’s shape distinct even from the osprey I see in summer. This is a singular silhouette, formidable, with expansive wings tipped with fierce feathers splayed defiantly against a tempest shrouded sun.

The American bald eagle has left it’s northern abode to feast on carp and other fish abundant in Utah’s pluvial lakes. From now through February these beautiful raptors will find refuge and nourishment in these sheltered valleys.

It is a marker on the wheel of the year for me. This returning of the eagles. A visceral reminder of the invisible process; Time ever spiraling forward on the broad shoulders of a great and ghostly bird.

Here’s the Scoop and it’s A Pelican Brief: The American White Pelican in Utah

Carl Sagon Questions — Pelicans over Utah Lake

“Is a pelican considered a carnivore”? My fellow pod-caster/wandering companion, Christine, posed this question to me just a few weeks ago.

Christine has a brilliant mind resplendent with curiosity. I really admire this about her.

She works at a local middle school as a student advocate. Students and co-workers alike, have come to realize that if you want an answer to almost anything you can just ask Christine.

How does she know so much, because she asks ALL the questions no matter how out there or mundane they seem.

Is a pelican a carnivore?

My Quick Rendition of a “Carnivorous Pelican”

Humorously enough, when the I put that question to my own mind, I immediately pictured a gargantuan pelican with a gaping maw full of dagger like teeth terrorizing the shorelines our local lakes.

This, of course, is an irrational image. Pelican’s don’t eat humans, or things that aren’t found swimming in the water, right?

This seemingly straight forward question, as any good question does, lead to me to ponder further about this remarkable bird: the pelican; In particular the American White Pelican which has so recently made it’s vernal return to Utah Lake.

So we will start back with my image of the terrifying “carnivorous pelican”, hungry for beach bound human flesh. Was there once a pelican ancestor like this?

It turns out, that during the late Triassic to the early Cretaceous period, a pterosaur, C. Hanseni, glided over the arid landscape of Utah, sporting a probable flange or wattle pouch, very similar to a pelican.

3 D printed Skull of C. Hanseni by Matt Wedel

And yes, it did claim a mouth full of teeth. 112 plus four jutting fangs to be exact! And it’s wingspan was quite impressive…for it’s era.

Here is where my people eating version starts to break down.

C. Hanseni ‘s wingspan was about 5 feet – that is about 4 feet shy of the American White Pelican of today. And it probably existed on a diet of insects and small reptiles, not frightened humans or even mammals or their prototypes.

The American White Pelican by contrast can have a wing span of over 9 feet and weighs in at anywhere from 15 – 30 lbs. That makes it the second largest bird in North America next to the California condor! But it still it is not nor ever has been a people eater.

Despite this slight disappointment to my imagination, pelicans do claim an an ancient avian heritage having evolved some 30 million years ago into the modern birds they are today.

I have met several people in Utah Valley, where I live, who were surprised to learn that “briefs, “pods”, “pouches”, “scoops” and or “squadrons” of pelican, as they can be collectively referred to, inhabit Utah Lake for a season every year. And to be honest, when I first started visiting the lake regularly I,too, was surprised by this.

Having lived by the Oregon coast as a teen and young adult, I primarily associated pelicans with the ocean.

It turns out that, of the two species of pelican that live in North America, only the Brown Pelican is a salty dog. The American White Pelican is considered a fresh water bird, though, here in Utah, it gives a special sort of nod to its briny cousin.

Gunnison Island, a remote piece of real estate off the shores of The Great Salt Lake is home to the third largest White American Pelican nesting colony in North America. 10-20 percent of the total population of American White Pelicans use this isolated island as a rookery.

The Great Salt Lake, however, is devoid of the pelican’s main food source: fish. Hence the birds rise on the thermals each morning flying miles every day to catch dinner. Many of them go to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, but a few take the nearly 100 mile southbound trip to hunt in Utah Lake.

American White Pelicans have a very unique and effective way of feeding. They are fish herders!

Pelican's feeding That’s right, these clever birds, will flock together in the water, using coordinated efforts to force schools of fish into the shallows. Once there, the whole group, just dives right in to collect their tasty snacks.

Below is a wonderful audio description I am sharing from the wonderful Utah Public Radio Production: Wild About Utah.

What about those funny looking pouches, you might be asking? Do they store dinner whole, fish bowl style, while jetting it back to hungry chicks?

The answer is no. Although the pelican pouch can hold up to 3 gallons of water, once these birds engulf or “net” their prey, they drain the water out by tipping their heads before swallowing their captives whole.

Chicks are fed by the ever the so appetizing regurgitation method. Yummy! (I am being a bit anthropomorphic and human-centrist here). This method of feeding young, adopted by many avian species, is both practical and highly efficient when considering the distances these parent birds have to travel between nesting sites and hunting grounds.

American White Pelican in Flight The American White Pelican is impressive in many ways. It is spectacular to observe these pro flyers cruising above the water without flapping a a wing. Resembling some sort of power glider, they can travel this way for quite a distance until at last the wings rotate vertically and webbed feet extend just in time to execute a perfect water landing.

This cagey bird also secrets a showy surprise, visible only when wings are extended. A neat row of black flight feathers doubles as a dapper trim. Against the American White Penguins nearly ubiquitous snowy plumage, it recalls to my mind the spectator wing tip oxfords that were so popular in the swing era.

I wonder if the American White Pelican might have inspired the design? If you know the answer to this question, be sure to let me know through leaving a comment.

American White Pelican with Horn — American White Pelican at Utah Lake with Horn

During the early spring, until about May, one might notice a peculiar hump or “horn” as it is often referred to, growing on top of a pelican’s beak. This unique appendage apparently makes an appearance only during the mating season. Occurring on both male and female birds, it simply falls off after young are produced.

Somewhere out on a sandy beach or rocky shoreline, there is a curiosity to be discovered; A pelican horn, kind of like a unicorn horn, only different! Here is a fun and informative blog I enjoyed about this funky feature.

I could go on and on about how interesting these bird peoples are, but that would make this blog quite a tome. And I will leave room for you, dear reader, to investigate further.

Before I end, however, I would like to rewind a bit and revisit Gunnison Island. Although American White Pelican numbers have generally been increasing in the U.S., they are certainly becoming a bird of concern here in Utah. During my research I learned that In 2020 the number of chicks produced on Gunnison island had decreased drastically from what used to be be between 4000 – 5000 chicks per season down to only 500.

Why is this happening?

Pelicanno water There is no question that drought and climate change are effecting this iconic lake. Yet, the biggest hand in this environmental emergency, it turns out is the largely unbridled interests of big industry and agriculture. Aided and abetted by short sighted politicians, precious fresh water tributaries are continually being diverted away from the lake towards the unchecked demands of a growing urban population.

To read an excellent article by the Audubon Society about the crisis at the Great Salt Lake and the precarious fate of the American White Pelican be sure to click on the links at the end of this blog.

When I first began this post, I started with the exercise of writing a poem about the American White Pelican. I do not profess to be a great poet, but I love the practice of this art form. My mind (often a bit on the goofy side) could not resist the idea of writing a poem in canticle form – a “Peli-Canticle” if you will.

I hesitated, at first, to share this activity. Yet, despite the slightly silly title, I think this attempt does capture, at least a little, the current struggle that the White Pelican is facing here in Utah.

I hope you will enjoy it, and that it might give you pause to think and maybe ask more questions of your own.

Peli-canticle for the American White Pelican in Utah

The coyote knows a thing or two – like Moses

Coyote knows to sally forth at the parting of the sea

In this case the Great Salt Lake has birthed a briny passage

Gunnison Island, no more but aye, land! Ironic coyote laughs – poor

Pelican, it’s pallid rookery, brief colony of (once) isolated egg and young

The idyll of this Eden (as with all Edens) fate will not endure

In the sweating city, eternal fountains flow towards thirsty lawns who drink up and yawn,

It is a slow asteroid, for the modern pterasaur, in dryness raining down

Oh yeah! I almost forgot to answer the question posed at the beginning of this blog.

Of course pelicans are considered carnivores, mostly of the pescatarian kind – meaning fish eater. However, American White Pelicans have *also been known to eat a craw fish, turtle, an occasional duck or pigeon and yes, even small mammals! Who knew? I didn’t…

Questioning is the minds way of wandering. It is the blooming of awareness that brings us closer to understanding this beautiful world and our relationship with and to it.

Happy Wandering…

Click HERE to read the Audubon article about the Great Salt Lake.

Click HERE to read further about the 2020 decline at the Pelican rookery on Gunnison Island

Following Feathers

“Feathers fall; soft as a song, light as morning dreams.”
― Eirene Evripidou

I am hiking in Grove Creek Canyon along the Eastern foothills of Pleasant Grove, Utah, one of the several canyons close to my home. For a moment shadow blocks the mid-day sun from above. Looking up, I see the brilliant flame fan of the red tailed hawk, who gives out it’s familiar Screeeeee! It seems to be calling to me as it passes over head again and again, dropping bright feathers along the way to mark my path. I gather these enchanting “breadcrumbs” as I climb up the mountain side towards the jutting cliffs where my winged guide waits.

Such is one of the many dreams I have had over the past few years, that have featured one of my most favorite treasures to find when wandering: Feathers.

And it is conversely true to claim that following feathers has contributed greatly to my wandering.

A week ago, I was walking up the side of a particular mountain and came across several turkey vulture feathers. This is a place where I often find these remarkable raptor plumes and so I always have one eye to the ground. Turkey vulture feathers are a rich chocolate brown that fades from tawny to a beautiful snowy white. The micro barbs of some of the secondary flight feathers and the semi plumes act like a prism, refracting sunlight. In these feathers the result is a beautiful indigo iridescence. Many birds have feathers like this, such as hummingbirds, magpie, and wild turkey. It is utterly enchanting when viewed in person, and one of the many astounding and magical properties of feathers.

There is truly something fascinating about the structure of a feather in general. They look so delicate, yet they are built to endure extremes. Both Peregrines and Gyrfalcons can withstand up to 25 Gs. That’s over 2 times the amount of force (9 g) that a human can tolerate.

Notice the shiny tegmen layer along the rachis of this goose feather.

Feathers further provide insulation against the harshest of environments allowing birds to tolerate a wide range of temperatures from high heat to freezing.

Many birds also have specialized plumes which help a species to flourish in a variety of specific habitats, such as water fowl.

Through preening, aquatic birds are able to spread oils over their feathers to help repel the constant moisture of their watery existence. Water fowl feathers can often easily be identified by a a pronounced tegmen, or waxy layer which is found along the rachis of the primary and secondary feathers which further helps to keep these birds from becoming water logged.

Other birds have plumes that are built to absorb water such as the sandgrouse. Click on the link if you’d like to learn how these inventive birds use this specialized mechanism to reproduce and thrive in some of the most parched environments on earth.

Sure, a single feather is quite fragile, but the combined force and function of these structures on a single organism makes them a formidable evolutionary development.

Which Came First, the Bird or the Feather?

Turns out it is the feather, as most Jurassic Park aficionados will gladly inform you. Flight was a later adaptation for this interesting feature, which it is theorized started out as an innovation for insulation or display. Sometimes I try to imagine beautifully plumed Utah-raptors – one of the largest variety of velociraptor running across the high desert mountain meadows where I wander. These feathered dromaeosaurids actually roamed a little further to the south of where I live, it seems. But still, it would be awesome to witness. Just not too close up!

Turkey Feathers…so many beautiful designs on one bird!

If you wander long enough, you begin to notice the many patterns in nature and among these patterns is the seasonal nature of feather finding. Each bird has its migration and molting season. Likewise each has a breeding and hatching season. Also interactions with other creatures (most of the time, not so great an outcome for the smaller avian set) play a role in the finding of feathers.

In the fall, I have a favorite place to hunt for turkey feathers. These remain one of my favorite feathers to collect because of the sheer variety of patterns and colors to be found. They are just so pretty!

But many times, you run across a feather, or a feather runs across you, without any apparent rhyme or reason. I have had this happen on many occasions and each time I feel a sense of wonder, honor and gratitude.

Throughout time, feathers have been revered as having mystical/ magical properties. Many people believe that found feathers bear messages from higher beings, or from loved ones who have passed on. Sometimes a found feather is thought to infer magical properties, related to the type of bird it came from, to the person to whom the feather is gifted. Feathers have further played important roles in many cultural ceremonies that are deeply powerful and meaningful, from time immemorial.

Feathers, are perhaps the perfect medium for such events, because of their ethereal nature and their inherent connection to wings and flight…something that lends the ability to move through space in four dimensions versus three as us poor naked apes seem to be bound to, without the aid of artificial devices. Furthermore, the inclination for up and sky to be associated with “heaven” and flight with angels, promotes this doubly.

And who can really say these events are not serendipitous? The actual scientific reason behind such a kismet as finding a feather, can neither credit NOR can it discredit any meaning that might be in it. It is up to each individual to discover for themselves and I believe that is a beautiful gift.

There also many idioms or proverbs around feathers. One of the most well known is “birds of a feather flock together”. Which works as a conventional wisdom, as it’s often true that like minded people tend to gather.

In actuality, however, birds often participate in what is called mixed species flocking. I think this fact is quite beautiful and actually points to a bigger wisdom, that was relayed to me once. And that is that we all bear and are sustained by the feathers from one single Great Bird.

If there is one thing I have learned from nature, it’s that no organism, flora or fauna, can flourish and exists without all the other organisms. Everything is connected and interdependent in this miraculous web that is LIFE. We all partake, act and interact, what touches one, will eventually touch the other. It is beautiful, profound and terribly significant…

Feathers truly are magical in their variety. From the tiny fuchsia tipped jewel tones of the rock pigeon, to the bright cerulean of a jay, to the absolutely show stopping salmon and black feathers of the northern flicker. Each one is my favorite!!!

Northern Flicker Feathers
Ring Neck Dove Feather
Blue Jay Feathers
Magpie Feather

To me, finding feathers remains both a miracle and sign. A reminder of a past so vast and strange that we can only imagine, and a harbinger of hope towards a future in which possibility is as open and bright as a hawk circling the sun.

Have you found feathers that are significant to you? If so, please feel free to share in the comments below.

Disclaimer *Please be aware of any state or federal regulations regarding feather gathering, as there are several. But always it is perfectly okay to hunt for feathers to photograph.

Coming Soon! Learn more about the structure of a feather and the 7 types that are found on most birds, in our first video blog.

Until then, happy wandering…