Whooping Cranes

 There is a beautiful essay in the New York Times today about whooping cranes. LINK

Whooping Cranes were one of the first animals I visited because we were saving them. The article discusses how, after WWII, only about 20 Whooping Cranes remained in the wild. In the early 1980s, I visited a wetlands site in Texas to see them (the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge). We did, in fact, see them, and they were magical.

Here is just a small quote about them from the article:

Those majestic white birds are the tallest in America — each standing five feet tall, with a wingspan of nearly seven feet — and we almost lost them forever. Never known to exist in large numbers, whooping cranes were nonetheless geographically widespread in North America until farming and hunting pushed them to the brink of extinction. By 1941, the worldwide population of whooping cranes numbered barely more than 20.

Even after decades of intense effort to help the species rebound — through a combination of habitat conservation and an innovative breed-and-release program — the total population of whooping cranes today is only around 800. So if you’re a whooping crane, and you need a flock for safety, you throw in your lot with the much more numerous sandhills.

An interesting Slot Canyon Hike in Anza Borrego

A View of the beginning from the parking lot.

Ed heard of a slot canyon in the Anza Borrego State Park, and we went on the hike with John and Sue.

It was a really cool hike that got super narrow in parts. Kind of a science hike that was nifty.

A bit of a photo dump from Hawaii Part 1.

 

Advice for the ages

 

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Palm Springs Fun

 (I am not mentioning the colossal cluster-fuckup in Minneapolis. You can read about it everywhere.)

Palm Springs has some interesting things to do. Right now is the Palm Springs International Film Festival. Eddie and I saw 2 of the shows so far, one on Monday and one last night.

The Soundman

May 1940. As the world teeters on the brink of war, in the iconic Flagey building in Brussels - from which the national radio broadcasts - the paths of Elza, a young actress taking her first steps in the radio play studios, and Berre, a novice sound man with an almost magical hearing, cross. He is looking for a foothold in the elusive power of sound, in the enchantment of the radio plays. Their meeting ignites a spark of love that lifts them above the threat of their time. RADIOMAN is a compelling love film about passion, imagination and the search for humanity in dark times. In the wondrous world of Belgian radio in the 1940s, their love sounds louder than the roar of the approaching war - an echo of hope in a world that is about to lose its innocence.

HoneyJoon

Persian Lela and her sensual daughter June take a trip to the romantic Azores after loss - with opposite ideas about how to grieve, how to live, and tiny bikinis. A hot philosophical guide helps them find each other ~ coming back to life.

Other Venue - the Palm Springs Cultural Center is running a new retrospective after the Film Festival ends

Yunlu Wetland Museum

 

China has built a museum in the Pearl River Delta that focuses on a restored wetland and egret refuge. It is a cool space that uses shifting volumes and sight lines to highlight different views across the wetlands. It is cool.

Hockey?

Yes, indeedy, there is hockey in the desert. We are going to a Coachella Firebirds game this week. But this past Saturday, we went to "The Cactus Cup", which was a 4-game college tournament. We saw Yale play the University of Minnesota at Mankato.

Mankato is where Ed's step-dad, Donald, was the Athletic Director for years. In fact, he got Mankato, which was Division 3, bumped up to Division 1 Hockey. So we had to go root them on.

It was fun. But Mankato / Yale was the consolation game, so it wasn't very crowded. And Mankato won, 5-3.