The Welcome Party

Any glimpse into the life of an animal quickens our own and makes it so much the larger and better in every way.

John Muir

A female boat-tailed grackle in the park where I walked, singing or screeching (depending on your point of view)

hopping around,

and looking for little scraps of food. She was unbothered by my camera and fun to watch.

The first iguana I saw since arriving in Miami Beach- ran up a palm tree beside my balcony. If I hadn’t seen him do it, I might not have seen him at all. His colors blend so well with the tree.

A fish crow contemplates the grass at South Point Park.

A little iguana I’m calling Ignatius perched himself on the top of a palm branch right next to my balcony - he’s been keeping me quiet company almost since I got here.

A beautiful little starling landed on the peak of a house across the alley, singing its heart out.

Ignatius pokes his head from the palm leaves yesterday - giving me a curious (or suspicious) look.

Small cheer and great welcome makes a merry feast.

William Shakespeare

I am always a little nervous about what I’ll find when I come back to Miami. I worry that the people I know won’t be here or that construction projects may have altered the places I know and love. I am sometimes afraid that I won’t find anything new to photograph, and that my photos will become repetitious. This time was no different, but the first morning, when I walked out to watch sunrise, I saw a friend. Then on the beach, I saw another friend. Then, I took my camera out and started noticing the animals. I felt like they were welcoming me, too. I hope you enjoy the photos. I enjoyed taking them!

Thank you so much for being here!

P.S. My technical problems were mostly resolved thanks to my husband, Tom. The new hard drive that I’m storing my photos on got corrupted and he recovered everything and repaired the drive; so… whew!

It has been surprisingly overcast and rainy most of the time I’ve been here so far, but on Tuesday this week we had a beautiful sunrise. This picture was taken overlooking the jetty next to South Point Pier, where some native plants are growing in a protected area.

Sounds of Silence

Silence is a sounding thing, to one who listens hungrily.

Gwendolyn B. Bennett

January 25, 2023 - Pigeon watches the seagull fly away

Listening Practice

Listen to the pigeons on the pier-

just cooing, you might say,

except for a rumbling bass note

deep in their bellies

following it

solemnly rising at the end,

into a plea.

Listen as they murmur together,

on the rocks of the pier-

turning toward the sun

where the seagulls fly.

January 25, 2023 - One step

January 26, 2023 - Seagull bathing in sunlight

January 26, 2023-South Pointe, Miami Beach

how do i capture the sound

of the ocean on a calm day,

when waves lightly kiss the sand

and the white foam lingers there -

slowly sinking in

beneath the seagull’s feet?

At the beginning of the year, I wrote about a few themes I wanted to focus on this year (Savoring Transition). Listening was one of them. Not long afterward, my friend Lisa sent me a great article called Sound Tracking by Rob Walker, with a listening practice to try; which I did nearly every day this week; focusing my attention on and trying to identify the sounds I heard around me.

When I wanted to write about what I heard, I looked up words for sounds (like the pigeons’ “coo”) and realized how inadequate language can be to describe the sounds we hear. Too many of the words are the same for completely different sounds. Is that because we don’t listen, or because the sounds are too complicated to be captured in a word?

January 26, 2023 - Sargassum sunrise

January 26, 2023

Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them. A.A. Milne

These weeds, sargassum, float on the water and are left behind by when the tide moves out. They pile up on the beach this time of year, until the tractors come by and bury them under the sand. Most people think they are a nuisance; but today, in the sun, this little one was beautiful.

January 27, 2023 - Fish Crow holding court

January 27, 2023 - A fish crow looked like he was holding court over the seagulls on the sand today when I walked by. It is amazing how many different varieties of gulls there are here. From a distance you might think they’re all the same; but even in just the small sample in this picture; you can see that they are not.

January 30, 2023 - Larus Gull

January 30, 2023 - This seagull caught my eye because of its varied feathers. I believe it’s a Laurus Gull, possibly a banded-beak laurus. I didn’t realize how striking its eyes were until I got home from my walk.

January 31, 2023 - Boat-tailed grackles gathered to sing with a wren listening.

January 31 2023. The grackles were singing their hearts out on this sign overlooking the boating channel in Miami Beach. The other bird (maybe a wren) flew in afterward. He looked like he was listening.

As I walked along the marina, I got lucky and saw the green heron below, just calmly sitting on the rocks. - probably waiting for a fish to swim by? He didn’t seem to mind me stopping.

January 31, 2023 - Green Heron Fishing from Marina

January 28, 2023 - Another iguana stopped by,

January 28-January 29, 2023.

Last week, I wrote about the iguanas that have been sleeping in the trees next to my apartment. I couldn’t resist taking a few more pictures, because two more showed up this week. One of them was HUGE. Since I took these pictures all but one has left the trees. I think they like these trees because they’re sheltered from the wind but still in a high and sunny location. Now that the winds are not as strong; they’ve moved on.

January 28, 2023 - Make that two.

January 29, 2023. A Big Iguana of a different color appeared for a few hours today.

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January 29, 2023 - This is the same little iguana from yesterday; his pose and his smile almost human.

January 26, 2023 - Gently rolling surf at sunrise.

Don't underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering.

A. A. Milne

A final moment of zen. I love the quote from A..A. Milne because it feels like daydreaming, and that’s what you should do sometimes when you’re walking along the water, or even just staring out your window. I hope you get a chance to try it this week. Thanks for joining me here!