Birds, Gods, and Chiefs

Gods, chiefs and birds may seem to have little in common, but in ancient Hawaiian culture they were more alike than different — a connection illuminated in a book due out in mid-August and in a related exhibit coming to San Francisco's De Young Museum on Aug. 29.

In Hawaiian culture, the feathers of birds endemic to the island were the most precious resources. As the only earthly creature, besides chiefs, to convene with the gods, honeycreepers and honeyeaters were by default spiritual beings, and their feathers were coveted finds. Sometimes collected by chiefs as taxes, the vibrantly colored plumes were crafted by hand into garments that symbolized divinity and power through an art form known as na hulu ali'i (royal feathers)...

-As seen in the LA Times Art and Books Sunday edition 8/9/2015 

Finder of Lost Objects or Missing Persons

Anayapa
Muwu
Wit

Gannet Gathering

                Bay Area birders are taking whale watching tours out to the Farallon Islands to catch a glimpse of the very rare Northern Gannet. The Gannet is way out of its range and according to biologists working out on the Farralones it is the first recorded sighting for the entire Pacific Ocean. I would certainly hop on any rig headed out to those rocky islands to scope this unique species. Oh, and how I dream of working out on the Farallones for a season or two like these biologists who get to see so many awesome birds, whales, and even great white sharks feeding!

gannet image-Dan Maxwell

...Way out in the Water

Timmy Sees Birds

Tim Curran has certainly taken inspiration from those graceful wave/ wind surfers the Chumash Pterodactyls.

Wouldn't have got these without super rad ocean photographer and great friend Scott Soens lending me his 600mm.

For some real surf photography check out his newly revamped beautiful site.

Bird Book

Naturalist John James Audubon's "Birds of America" sells for $11.5 million dollars, making it the worlds most expensive book.

Audubon was part naturalist, part artist, and possessed a rare, almost unequaled ability to observe, catalog and paint the birds he observed in the wild. Experts say his book, originally published in 1827, is unmatched in its beauty and also of considerable scientific value, justifying its stratospheric cost.

Check out the free electronic version of the book here.

I wonder how many birds used to inhabit California just over 200 years ago before most of the rampant development and serious habitat conversion begun to take place. Surely places like the Oxnard plain and California's great Central Valley were large marshes and estuaries that could have housed thousands more flying fauna than the meager remnants of those grand ecological wonders turned to commercial agricultural mud flats can provide for today.

Pic and story via the LA Times
Photo: A Sotheby's employee with a page from "Birds of America" by John James Audubon. Credit: Suzanne Plunkett / Reuters

Bird People

"...three major classes of beings can be distinguished in the narratives:
the First People, supernatural beings, and the nunasis.

The list of species comprising the First People is rather interesting, for many of the animals that one might suppose would figure prominently in Chumash stories -such as bears, rattlesnakes, mountain lions, whales, deer, and elk,

- are either not mentioned at all or briefly touched upon in passing.

Most of the First People mentioned by name are birds of one kind or another..."


from Decembers Child: A Book of Chumash Oral Narratives by Thomas C. Blackburn

Birdman

Tim Curran putting his bird-like qualities to use.