A Bird In Flight

Sometimes we learn about nature or how lucky we are by chance. Living on Seneca Lake in upstate New York provides me with that chance on a pretty regular basis. I have the opportunity to gaze out my windows or off of my deck to watch nature in many forms. I have grown to love watching birds in flight. The flight can be short and brief, a mere jump and flap from one branch to another, or a beautiful soar on thermals above the water and the trees on shore. I get to see the migrations in the spring and the fall - the geese, the loons and the raptors to name a few. Sparrows and eagles move through or make their home here.

The other day, about a week ago, I caught the glimpse of a huge bird soaring along Seneca's shores in the left corner of my eye. I looked quickly as this beautiful specimen moved through the air to the north. Some things didn't compute. I had never seen a bird so large and the color was a mix of white, gold and black from underneath. Soon he or she was out of sight and I thought perhaps this was the American Bald Eagle that I know is here eluding my eyes. I had recently seen two Golden Eagles battling in the sky only yards from my deck over a fish that one had snatched from the water. They both twirled in the sky with wings outstretched, one finally victorious.

Yesterday the mystery of the large soaring bird was solved I believe. John Van Niel, an environmental professor, who writes columns for the Finger Lakes Times, had an article about an American white pelican who has recently ended up at the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge just northeast of Seneca Lake.

Above is a photo Van Nile took of the visitor who I'm pretty sure I saw making his way to the refuge, a bit lost according to the author. The American white pelican has a wing span of up to nine feet and this certainly matches what I saw as this fellow traveled up the lake. Here is Van Niel's full article: SPEAKING OF NATURE - Pelican Makes Rare Stop.

Again, birds in flight are truly amazing, reminding us of our own travels or those of loved ones who we've traveled with over the years. So take some time to look up or look out and see these amazing creatures, finding the wind and each other just as we do.

Martin We Hardly Knew You!

It will soon be 50 years ago to the minute that Martin Luther King, Jr was taken down by an assassin's bullet. Memories fade and facts are sometimes changed by well intentioned memory keepers. There are those who hold the truth and others who think they hold the truth.

It is certainly not a bad thing that Martin Luther King, Jr has become a hero to so many. He has become a person to emulate and believe in. He is both real and a symbol to many in the black and white communities. All of this is good.

But 50 years later we have to understand that many really hardly knew him or what he stood for. Few have understood his faith, his nonviolence, and how both became connected to poverty, poor people and social action. In addition, the revisionists make us think all was well in the end when it never really was. Martin Luther King, Jr was hated by whites in the north and the south. He was assassinated by a bullet and gun fed by hate. Martin Luther King, Jr was hated before he came out against the war in Vietnam. He was pressed hard by the left and the right.

I had the privalige of seeing and hearing Martin Luther King, Jr once while I was in Selma many years ago. It was by no means a close or personal meeting. No, it was listening with hundreds of others outside of Brown Chapel, looking to a leader who wasn't afraid to talk about the hate and his fears. I watched him walk to the front of a crowd confronting more symbols and weapons of hate carried by white men in uniforms. This was the uppity black communist who was followed and harassed by the FBI and others in the establishment.

His faith was about politics. He believed in the Jesus who walked the streets, who reached out to the beggars and the unclean. The Jesus who knew that economics was behind someones struggle with injustice. Martin knew that poor men fought rich men's wars, always. He knew that some people looked up and others looked down on those who suffered. He also knew the fear some people lived under because he lived there too.

Like all men and women, Martin Luther King, Jr grew and evolved. He was speaking out in the north, He was speaking out about Vietnam and war, he was speaking out about poverty and poor wages. And let's be real clear. It wasn't going over well and he knew it. But sadly, his life was cut short in Memphis that night 50 years ago. He had so much more to say. More to say that would make many squirm and more to say that would anger those in power. And then he was gone and over the years love for him grew. Yes, that's good but we all need to know the fact is - Martin we hardly knew you.