silver lining to a waking nightmare

Some countries wander by mistake. Earlier this year—June 21st to be precise—Team Rock published an interview with The Sisters of Mercy’s Andrew Eldritch stating that we would see a new album from his eponymous (not) Goth band if Donald Trump were elected as President of the United States of America:

“What is happening in America is an ever more bizarre circus, and the population doesn’t seem to realise just how much it’s being taken for a ride.

I can tell you one thing: If Donald Trump actually does become President, that will be reason enough for me to release another album. I don’t think I could keep quiet if that happened.”

Read the full interview here

(Source: Post-punk.com)

1 Comment

by sean on November 9, 2016 • Quote • Permalink

Posted in absurdity, apocalypse, bleah, destroyers, doom and gloom, fear, go to sleep now and when you wake it will be another day, horror of humanity, let's all synchronize our watches to 00:00, music, politics, sisters of mercy, wednesdays are weird

Posted by sean on November 9, 2016

https://sd-stewart.com/2016/11/09/silver-lining-to-a-waking-nightmare/

excavation

Yesterday at a local nature center I found this Pileated Woodpecker performing some major excavation work on a partially dead tree. The bird was using its bill like a chisel to strip off huge swathes of bark. It had already uncovered the bare area to the right and was working its way clockwise around the tree. It would hammer on a section and then nimbly hop away just as a slab of bark separated from the tree and fell to the ground. I was hoping to catch one of these more dramatic moments, but had to settle for the fine-tuning it’s doing here.

2 Comments

by sean on November 7, 2016 • Video • Permalink

Posted in birding, birds, pileated woodpecker, woodpeckers

Posted by sean on November 7, 2016

https://sd-stewart.com/2016/11/07/excavation/

a profile of the translator ‘red pine’

Bill Porter (“Red Pine”). translator of Chinese texts and poetry, and author of the 1993 book Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits

(click image to read the article; found via The Hermitary — see also: Lion’s Roar article)

bats!

(Plate by Ernst Haeckel, courtesy of Public Domain Review)

2 Comments

by sean on October 26, 2016 • Image • Permalink

Posted in bats, halloween, mammals, public domain

Posted by sean on October 26, 2016

https://sd-stewart.com/2016/10/26/bats/

friday black vulture party

Tree full of roosting Black Vultures.

Note how the vulture at center is doing the classic Snoopy vulture pose.

Black Vultures

6 Comments

by sean on October 14, 2016 • Image • Permalink

Posted in birding, birds, black vulture, nature, photography, somewhere else

Posted by sean on October 14, 2016

https://sd-stewart.com/2016/10/14/friday-black-vulture-party/

chimney swifts entering their evening roost

[click in the lower right corner to enlarge]

Hundreds of migrant chimney swifts enter the chimney at Free State Bookbinders in Baltimore City last night for their evening roost. Recent rough estimates come in around 2000 birds roosting in this single chimney, though on peak migration nights that number can double or even triple. If you do some investigation in your area you may find there’s an annual event like this near you, too. If there is, I highly recommend checking it out–it’s quite a spectacle! More info here.

2 Comments

by sean on September 18, 2016 • Video • Permalink

Posted in birds, chimney swift, urban nature

Posted by sean on September 18, 2016

https://sd-stewart.com/2016/09/18/chimney-swifts-entering-their-evening-roost/

september psithurism

psithurism n. sound of wind whispering in the trees.

And thus waking to the first instance of psithurism born of a cool breeze do we now herald the arrival of autumn, though the equinox is yet seven days hence. Get thee behind us, summer, and yield the stage to your more attractive successor. Thank you.

3 Comments

by sean on September 15, 2016 • Permalink

Posted in autumn, seasons, summer

Posted by sean on September 15, 2016

https://sd-stewart.com/2016/09/15/september-psithurism/

good morning!

A groundhog (aka woodchuck, whistlepig, etc.) takes the early morning sun.

eastern tiger swallowtail

Worn late-summer Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. Note the faded and ragged wing tips, completely missing the ‘swallow tail’. They’re almost too degraded to identify the sex, but based on my other photos I think it’s a male. The light form of the female has much more blue on the hind wings. Still, it’s kind of a tough call.