This last week was filled with a lot of love from friends and family, which was wonderful. On Friday I woke up feeling very thankful for everyone in my life, which I guess is timely since it's almost Thanksgiving. Today I have some small stories about what we see, or don't see, in some cases.
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design
Every year millions of birds die from flying into windows, because they simply can't see it. As they're flying, they see a reflection of sky and trees, unable to realize it's a reflection, and unable to understand the architectural cues that would signal there's a building in front of them. Instead, they see that reflection of trees and sky and think they can fly through. A bird once flew into a window at our house and I ran outside to check on him. He was shaking and couldn't move very well, so I put him in an open shoe box with some towels on the porch and let him rest until he was well enough to fly away. It was really sad to watch and traumatizing for the poor bird.
I realized we should probably get bird glass on our windows, but most of this glass has dots or stripes on it that the bird can see and also so can everyone else. Polka dotted windows don't sound very nice to me.
But there's another type of glass coating called Ornilux mikado, mikado for the Japanese playing sticks that you shake and let fall into random patterns. It's transparent to humans but visible to birds. The creators took inspiration from spider webs to make this coating. Birds don't fly into spider webs, even though they're very delicate and can be hard to see. The web strands reflect UV radiation, and birds can see see UV wavelengths. By coating the window with a web like pattern, ones that kind of look like randomized mikado sticks, the pattern reflects UV radiation, birds can see it, and understand they can't fly through.
In fact, birds can also see a whole spectrum of colors that we can't, simply because their eyes register UV light. I've often wondered what the world looks like to birds. Berries, seeds, spider webs, are all UV reflective, maybe some flowers are too, so in my mind the bird sees a muted world highlighted with bright spots of almost neon colors... but in a color none of us will ever be able to see.
nature
In another story of what we see, and some good news this week, scientists have found a huge coral reef of the coast of the Solomon islands. It's so large it can be seen from space! Due to its size, it was originally thought to be some sort of shipwreck or just a rock, but further investigation showed that it's a living coral, just bustling along! I've written about corals and how modern science is using mapping and open data to find,conserve, and monitor our coral reefs.
reimagine
There is so much in the world that we miss by going too fast and not stopping to really look around us. That's why one of my favorite things to do is take "small photos" of the tiny beautiful things I've seen. So I was especially excited to learn about Julya Hajnoczky's work. National Geographic said "A 15-minute trail might take her four hours. She hovers over moss or mushrooms while other visitors speed by." I feel like Julya and I would get along well on a slow, silent walk together. Her photos show the beauty in the small treasures of nature, and the beauty we can find if we take the time to really look. Dark, mesmerizing, and more than a little magical.
