MOTHER NATURE IS BEYOND AMAZING AND HOW SHE TAKES CARE OF HER CREATURES IS JUST INCREDIBLE.
At the end of March, we snuck away for a weekend to surprise my dearest friend. En route, we listened to a fascinating interview on Terri Gross’s show on NPR. It was an interview with author Scott Weidensaul about his book, A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds.
How often do you even take note of the birds above your head? Ever wonder where they come from and where they are going?
This book by Scott Weidensaul, details how Mother Nature has adapted birds to be able to endure incredible long flights over oceans (17days for one of them) with no outside food or water and no place to sleep among many other feats that little fluff balls we don’t even really pay attention to, should never normally encounter. This bird apparently stuffs itself in Alaska in preparation for the trip and then, during the trip, their hearts and stomachs decrease in size and their bodies metabolize the stored fat into water and energy for the bird for the duration of the trip. ( As the author quipped…. we humans need that metabolizing capability!)
Birds apparently Hemi-sleep…..that is one side of their brains shut down at a time and they flip flop between hemispheres on long trips (and even when sleeping on trees), anyway…kinda like sleeping with one eye open! The stories were incredible and each time we were looking at each other and going…” good grief Innate is incredible marvelous”. Innate, that little speck of Mother Nature/The Divine that manifests itself in each and every living thing and makes the science of bird migration something to really read about and marvel at. We will have the book at the office when Ray has finished reading it.
“Many mysteries of birdlife and migration are revealed in this compelling and illuminating in-the-field narrative complete with maps and photographs” starred review Booklist