20210507 Slumbering blog awakens
Greetings, Southeast Alaskans. As you might note from the last dated post, this is my first blog in well over a year. JuneauNature has been far from fallow over that period, but content development’s been ‘under-the-hood’—not really announcement-worthy. In fact, JuneauNature’s blog has never been a regular enough feature to merit a following . . .til now, hopefully. Thus, the nifty new subscription box!
This winter, watching Jánwu, mountain goat, I began to imagine regular postings about the 4-legged soap opera unfolding weekly over our Highlands neighborhood. I even considered calling the refashioned blog Goatlandia, suggesting a blend of bovid natural history and village gossip.
Turns out, standing on the sidewalk with a spotscope is a great way to meet your neighbors. Some find it weird and pretend not to see me, but most know there’s goats up there!—and stop to ask what they’re doing. I always offer a peek at 50 power, which for many, is the first time those little cream specks on the skirts of Shaa Tlaax, moldy top (Mt J-word) blossom into the entrancing personalities whose lives have dominated my journals almost nightly for the past 8 months.
Discovery naturalists and friends attending an evening toad-symphony, 20210505. L-to-R: Steve Merli, Bob Armstrong filming egg-stringers, Cathy Pohl, Naatalgaii Utter, Amy Nye, Koren Bosworth, Mike Justa, Bess Crandall. (John Hudson was also present, fortunately, cause only he looked close enough to finally spot the algae-coated eggs we’d all overlooked until just before leaving! We see what we’re ready to see . . .)
But I promise—this won’t only be about goats. Discovery naturalists like the intrepid group above probe almost every nook and cranny—high to low; wet to dry—from T’aakú Kunaa Geeyí, glacier-bidding bay (Taku Inlet) to Daxanáak, between 2 points (Berners Bay). So here’s the blog’s new name: Views from Áak’w & T’aaku Aaní.
I do wonder, though, for you tracking geeks . . . Did you notice that the kinda blocky green cloven-hoof Oreamnos logo for the blog banner is not identical to the more gracile Odocoileus hoofprint on JuneauNature’s header? Okay okay, enough Jánwu esoterica . . .
