Jan Priddy > Recent Status Updates

Wonderful essays that each convey more information and heart in a few pages (they are brief) than some books manage in hundreds of pages.

I have issues.

Rachel Carson birthed the modern environmental movements's awareness of the threat posed by chemicals in Silent Spring and for that the chemical companies did their best to destroy her. That was not the goal of her life. She was a marine biologist who didn't complete her PhD because she took care of family, as so many women must. Nevertheless, this book was her fourth to look at the sea. It will be beautiful.

An odd thing to say, but Macdonald is a bit sexist, presenting falconry as manly, "the peregrine declined unnoticed because it is not adorable, a women's bird, easily kept track of on lawn and feeder—and easily missed. It is a man's bird, a strong, silent, solitary raptor." [1970] Yet, my intro to falconry was from a noted falconer-author unmentioned here. Women were discouraged from the sport... and did it anyway.

Many connections to royalty, Shakespeare, and the Church. Imagine nuns in trouble for their devotion to their falcons!

Falcon never build nests but use whatever is on offer!

Despite my kibitzing, this is a wonderfully informative book and beautifully written. I've admired falconry since I was a child.

Also, since fighting among peregrines, for example is rare, what would be the advantage of a larger male?

Two to four peregrine eggs for example, would weigh 100 to over 200 grams. And adult female weighs 700 to 1,500 grams, equivalent to a 140 pound woman carrying a 19-28 pound baby.

Reviewing the "reverse size domorphism" [RSD] of many raptors—the female is often considerably larger than the male—reveal the anthropocentrism of science, assuming that what is typical of humans is the standard. Further, in reviewing the possible reasons for this female/male difference, Macdonald misses the two obvious: 1. a larger female is better placed to grow the eggs, and 2. to carry their weight before laying.

mighty Mississippi