Choose your audience carefully

The  Regal Horned Lizard, pointed and crenellated, stubby and shy, was so intent on watching a grasshopper on my front  stoop that  neither one moved when I appeared.
Patience, such patience, I thought as I stood next to the lizard, admiring him with my camera.
Grasshopper did not move.
My camera snapped at them.
Lizard glanced at me, then back to Grasshopper.
Snap, went the jaws my camera.
Lizard did not twitch. Grasshopper held his ground.
So smart, I thought. Grasshopper knows the speed of a lizard.
Playing it  safe, I thought.
Oh, the wisdom of the wild.

I shifted my stance and Lizard lost his focus,
scuttled into the blue agave whose
spines would protect him from me.
Grasshopper did not move.
Closer inspection allowed.
Surely, Grasshopper would leap now.
But it is hard to leave when one leg is stuck to the  pavement
Impossible to leave when
you are desiccated
preserved
perfect, but dead.

The Regal Horned Lizard (horned toad, Tumamoc in the language of Tohono Oodham)
and I, with more names than I shall list,
had patiently stalked a dead grasshopper.

One foot stuck in place can
impede your progress
You could stay there, looking perfect
until you die, an object of curiosity
and eventually
Someone might notice that
you haven't moved and
the living would move on.

There is a video crawling round the web
the courtship dance of a male
peacock spider, so named
for his brilliant display.
Such a dance he does!
Choreographed as if for Vegas
His legs, like arms, kicking
like a chorus girl
waggling her sequined behind
On and on he goes
Giving his all
"Look at me! Notice me! Pick me!"
But she is silent
unmoving
Dead, like the grasshopper.

Take notice who you dance for
Choose your audience carefully.

Speaking of audiences, get a front row seat @www.bethsurdut.com

Ten Generations

Ten Generations by Beth  Surdut 2011

Listening To Raven series

In Alaska, Mark has been caring for ravens and eagles for the past 16 years. Although there are certainly professional nature photographers with admirable patience, skill, and talent, this man’s love is uniquely communicated through his actions and photographic documentation of his avian friends. His photographs and the stories he tells me gave flight to this newest drawing as well as  The Ravens of Truth and Memory which nods to the Norse God Odin’s raven.

Mark writes: I must say I think your drawing of Raven is the best that I have seen yet...

 Raven flew over the office of the apartment complex where I worked. I put some meat out for him and soon he came down and got it. Next, he brought his partner and although she was much more tentative they both started stopping by each day. I started to develop a call that sounded like when the male Kushka called the female Feathers. After time, when I called, they would come down off the mountain. That summer, I noticed that they brought their fledge down to my truck and from that time on I became their babysitter.

  After 10 generations of fledges, I believe the original couple moved on and now all their children come back in the winter to live nearby cause they know I will have food for them if times get bad. 
Come meet Ten Generations and the rest of my raven family at the Randall Davey Audubon Center exhibition opening July 9, 5-7 pm in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Is that an egg in your pocket,or are you just happy to see me?

There's a new raven lurking in the lavender. How do I know? He's bigger and more cautious than my regulars,who swoop in to check a few times a day to see if I've put out uncooked chicken eggs.
The newbie, watching to see if the egg is really available, is stalking amidst the sweet-scented purple flowers, flying up to land on the creviced rock fountain, then back to the bushes.
Now he's on the rock, head swinging back and forth to see if he's alone. Ah ha! He's picked up the prize in his beak and taken off, his feathers gleaming blue and silver.

If you're in Santa Fe, you can see my Ravens of Truth and Memory in the Wildlife Invitational show at the Randall Davey Audubon Center until June 30th. My solo Listening To Raven exhibition opens there July 9.

New Year's Compass

Raven just flew by my window, his feathers silvered by the sunlight. Mountains rising from a bed of clouds into the blue New Mexico sky --such beauty transcends all challenges. May we all utilize the compass of our heart in this next year.