Category: Animals
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Street Turkey | East Wenatchee, WA | May 2020 Our new friend ignores fences, taunts dogs, gobbles gardens and struts the streets with gangsta swagger. It notes our presence with an upnod — “Yo, homie” — but otherwise keeps its beak to the ground. One neighbor says it’s a wild turkey sent to bedevil cats.…
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The Lookout | Entiat, WA | May 2020 Urban animals offer life lessons we’d all be wise to follow. From our dog: Nap with passion. From backyard birds: Eat now, poop lots. From raccoons: Always wear your “Who, me?” face. Geese with families also offer valuable
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Grazing Horse | East Wenatchee, WA | April 2020 Horse lips are like the end of an elephant’s trunk — fleshy, specialized tools for grasping thin blades of grass. Watching them pluck, pluck, endlessly pluck, I realize that in recent weeks my own particular “tools” for living in lockdown have emerged. They include a new…
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Place to Ponder | East Wenatchee, WA | April 2020 Ducks always seem a bit self-absorbed. They curb their emotions: No high fives, victory dances or other exuberant displays. Sometimes in a flock they’ll quack displeasure — “Webbed feet! Is anything more disgusting?” — but otherwise they’re unflappable. This particular duck, deep in thought, stood…
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Sunrise Doves | East Wenatchee, WA | April 2020 The cloud over public mingling — talking, touching, partaking — has partially eclipsed our brilliance. Masks hide smiles and mute voices. Distance weakens the gravitational pull of shared experience. We still get goofy, excited, worried and sad, but many of us do it now in separate…
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Ducks Distancing | East Wenatchee, WA | April 2020 Extensive research on waterfowl behavior — i.e., me sitting on a log — reveals that quackers enjoy their solitude. They frequently break away from the flock to dine alone, fluff their feathers or take a nap. There’s no separation anxiety or boredom funk; they’re happy to…
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Flock | East Wenatchee, WA | April 2020 Time for some Nature, but let’s not go crazy. Just because waterfowl flock together doesn’t mean we can too. For now, we cover our beaks and keep a distance that’s twice our wingspan. We turn our heads to honk. In recent weeks water and sun have become
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River Light | East Wenatchee, WA | April 2020 Thankfully “stay home” doesn’t mean stay inside. Every day we (and hundreds of others) hit the nearby river trail to walk the dog, watch the ducks and wave a “we’re alive” hello to fellow walkers. It’s a healthy affirmation of our pandemic predicament, a way to…
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Cow with Wires | Mansfield, WA | March 2020 After a year of daily postings, IrwinFoto365 ends with this image and my sincere thanks for clicking here everyday. My college photo instructor always advised, “When in doubt, shoot the cow.” He believed cows were kindhearted creatures beloved by everyone. So if we happened across a…
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Riding the Ripples | East Wenatchee, WA | February 2020 Resting Birds #3 | Turbulence barely ruffles a paddling goose. She sees the swells of a boat’s wake rolling her way and gives barely a hink or chittle (the murmurings of an unperturbed water bird). Wouldn’t it be nice to similarly
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