Experience Riding Mountain

Now, this is what I am talking about – actions that lead by example.  I just recently saw a Tweet by Rodd Lucier (@thecleversheep) that was remarkable.  He has just taken part in an educator’s conference in Pennsylvania this past weekend.  Together, participants created and posted a field guide online using Slideshare (which means that they created a PowerPoint presentation and simply posted it, licencing it as an Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share Alike 3.0 document under The Creative Commons).

It is a great example of how the online world can help us to act rather than meet or plan; collaborate rather than work individually when “the collaborative” has results much greater and more powerful than the individual; and share what we know and produce freely in the world for others to use, adapt or build upon.  WOW!

In my view, there are some really important principles illustrated in this short slide show that we can implement in our day-to-day actions for when we are attempting to work with others.  Great job Rodd et al!  Thanks for sharing.

Two of the most common birds at our winter feeder are evening grosbeaks and pine grosbeaks.  The males are particularly striking in colour.  Evening grosbeaks males are yellow, black and white.  Pine grosbeaks are red, grey and white.  My interpretation of their behaviour is that the evening grosbeaks are the brash ones, whereas the pine grosbeaks are the stately ones – gentle and firm.  When they move in, every other bird moves away.  No pushing, no shoving – they just land.

Male pine grosbeak

I enjoy watching both bird species at the feeder. A cup of coffee in one hand, my binoculars at the ready, and my camera with its smooth focusing 100 – 400 image stabilizing lens in the other.  Each day has its unique moments.