I’ve been wondering if the personal disclosure ’scared off’ a continuation of this conversation. Very un-Yankee of me, huh?!

We actually witnessed Renee conjure the birds up out of the bushes on our last day there – it was quite something! I heard the call she did and will experiment with it. As to applying the universal power of attraction to life in general, yes, I know it’s true and believe me, I’ve been practicing! Not perfectly, however, as a few recent slips show.

On the ‘un-Yankee’ theme, I was wondering if anyone read this letter to My American Friends? It’s from a European point-of-view, and quite nice in its articulation of the subtle effects of culture and place. And I have been thinking more about bird trends, and what it means to feel placed, to be in place – and know it. Hopefully I’ll get to writing those thoughts here soon.

One reason that phrase caught my attention is because of losing (some years ago) a pair of bluebirds due to an untimely delivery of firewood…they abandoned their house despite having already lain eggs.

That tragic event came to symbolize a series of other losses for me, attached tightly to a particular place, which persists in time and relationships only in my mind. Bluebirds of happiness were not to be! Now, I didn’t have to come clean about this, but I think it matters – especially when one presumes to be in the business of “interpreting” – to recognize and admit the possibility of bias or misperception. So, now that I know the background of your comment, I think there was only a wistful note in your tone, which I magnified to mourning.

I’ve been thinking about my occasional tendency of leaning to the grim, because when Ken sent the link to all of you birders he described your meeting as the “count down” – and I immediately took this as

a) a label for the particular kind of meeting (distinct from other kinds of meetings you might have at different times of the year or for other purposes) and

b) an ominous indication of birding knowledge concerning species extinction.

Ken’s been emailing me spreadsheets and info on trends that I might try to organize into another blogpost or a comment to continue this conversation here (if anyone’s interested in pursuing it). I would be particularly keen to learn more views on place, like Charlotte shared, and also strategies for coping with unwelcome changes – which is the social element of the meeting that I appreciated so much.

Charlotte, it seems to me that “place” needs to matter to all of us, the question is how to remind people of this relevance! I’m interested that you wrote “its sense of place” – indicating a sense that “Nantucket” itself has (owns? projects? gives? yields?) a sense of place. Does the island ‘give place’ or do the people on the island create it? I hope this doesn’t feel like an interrogation! I am honestly curious!

I’ve just finished reading a phenomenal book by Keith Basso about the sense of place of Western Apache, in which Apaches speak place into being in such powerful ways that the land actually talks to them. My friends and I commented on the obvious playfulness of Nantucketeers in naming houses, composing signage, labeling a conservation section of heath the Serengeti, etc. In your description, though, of light and sound and beauty, it seems you are referring to a sensorial experience. This is what seems to be missing from many people’s lives – at least in the grounded sense of having a homeplace with (either) a future or a history…

Anyway, I hope birding is in my future! I can’t predict whether I’ll turn hardy enough for the winter version, but I’ve been drawn to birds since the early 1990s. In Indiana, I saw some kind of grebes swim long distances underwater and watched sand hill cranes dance. Wow. I also noticed that as soon as I began birdwatching my visual acuity seemed to increase in terms of comprehending American Sign Language! Bird lore intrigues me, as well as what can be learned about people based upon our relationship (or lack thereof) with birds (who are everywhere, even in cities) and nature in general.

“Place” still matters to some of us. i have returned to live on Nantucket after an absence of six or so years because its sense of place has such a hold on me. Is it the brilliant quality of light, the sound of surf crashing that reaches me at my mid-island home, the stark beauty of the moors and the winter beaches? Or, is it the people who inhabit this faraway island? “Only in my mind?” The questions continue.

Good wishes for your unfolding work. Charlotte

Thanks! No, I wasn’t recording, just taking copious notes.

You busted me on doing ‘interpreting’ instead of ‘verbatim reporting.’ It’s a hazard: once I *think* I have the meaning, I’ve discovered that I sometimes written down a word that is more clear (as in, “no” rather than “un unh”) and then…. well. Do you know I took “fish crow” for a joke rather than as the name of an actual bird?! I have no idea what sounds fishes make but I’m sure they don’t crow!

Anyway – at least I had some awareness that I was missing subtext!

Please do share; I’m very interested in feedback on-going thinking about what any/all of this might mean. Best wishes and good luck to birds and birders everywhere.

Regarding the Fish Crow comment – which actually was “Un unh.” The humor there is that’s what their very different call sounds like. They don’t “caw” like American Crows.

Nice to have you there and thanks for sharing. I’m going to pass your link around the 76 members of our Nantucket Birding e-mail group. — Ken