Tag Archives: birds

Sep4

two birds.

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Two Birds

M.C. Escher, Regular Division of the Plane (Birds) no. 18, India ink, pencil and watercolor, February 1938

About Two Birds

M.C. Escher created his iconic interlocking motif Two Birds in 1938, exploring how repeating, interlocking geometric shapes can fit together without any gaps. His fascination with interlocking figures began in 1922 when he visited the Alhambra, a 14th-century Moorish palace in Granada, Spain. He spent days sketching the complex, colorful tile mosaics that covered the walls and floors.

 Though the Moors avoided depicting living creatures due to religious tradition, Escher adapted their mathematical tile designs to feature recognizable animals like birds, fish, and reptiles.

Escher had no formal training in advanced mathematics, but he intuitively grasped geometric symmetry. By 1938, works like Two Birds and related prints such as Day and Night, marked his deep dive into tessellations – where a single bird shape serves as both the primary figure and the negative space outlining its counterpart. 

 —

‘mighty is geometry; joined with art, resistless.’

-Euripides

 

 

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Source Credits: Artchive, Wiki Art, M.C Escher, The Graphic Work, Royal Publishing House

Aug3

‘try to learn something about everything and everything about something.’ – thomas huxley

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yesterday

 i learned

 baby sandhill cranes

are called

colts

because they’re born with legs

that are so long and strong

 they can run around

within 24 hours after hatching.

(looks like they’re wearing tall boots with heels)

always something new to learn

the world never fails to amaze me.

colts with their parent

—

‘he who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance;

one cannot fly into flying.’

-friedrich nietzsche

 

 

—

photo credits: robert simmons

Jul1

bird brains.

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How pigeons are helping catch cancer cases in humans

It sounds a bit bizarre, but it’s tue. Among pigeons’ many talents is providing an extra set of eyes for doctors looking for signs of cancer in medical scans. In 2015, researchers enlisted the unlikely medical assistants to identify breast cancer in mammograms to help prevent imaging misses. Now, another team of scientists has recruited the birds yet again to train AI to help do the same.

In a study published earlier this year, researchers trained six pigeons to watch CT scan videos and spot lung nodules, a type of growth that could be a sign of cancer. After the birds learned to spot the lung nodules, they also started recognizing emphysema and ground-glass nodules — both problems they hadn’t even been trained on.

Here’s where AI comes in: The researchers are now trying to channel the pigeon’s keen visual system, which works similarly to the human’s unconscious visual system, to develop medical AI tools that can double, triple, and quadruple check scans. They noted that the pigeon-inspired method will by no means replace radiologists, but rather help ensure scans are understood as thoroughly as possible. Thanks in advance, pigeons!

—

“I bet your mom would let me.”
-Pigeon, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the B”
-Mo Willems, author, ‘Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!’

 

l–

Photo credit: Eastside Autobon Society

Source credits: Nice News, New Scientist, Joshua Howego, Popular Science, Clarissa Brincat

Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of Psychology, College of the Holy Cross, 1 College Street, 01610, Worcester, MA, USA

    Muhammad A. J. Qadri, Reuben R. R. Reyes & Gregory J. DiGirolamo
  • Department of Radiology, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Worcester, USA

    Daria Kifjak, Bilal Elkaddouri, Alexander A. Bankier, Max P. Rosen & Gregory J. DiGirolamo
May6

living forest.

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waking up early 

sitting in the stillness of the lake

 with the birdsong

of 9 different birds

captivated. 

—

“your head is a living forest full of song birds”

-ee cummings

 

—

art credit: beth conklin –  Song Birds

Oct18

taking flight.

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when playing outside

the kinder found a dead bird

they called out to everyone to come over to see it

 they said goodbye to the bird and told her that they were sad that she had died

  we put a circle of pretty leaves around her to keep her safe on her journey.

—

“teach them to be kind to animals and they will grow up to be kind to people too.”

-rumi

Aug25

mocking – birds.

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they are way too clever and a have a flair for sarcastic humor

 

—

” at a wildlife rehab facility i met two crows that said, ‘caw’ in a human accent.

they said it like a human reading the word ‘caw’ aloud.

the tech shook her head and said,

“they’re making fun of us. people say ‘caw’ to them all day,

so they’ve started impersonating us.”

-cryptonaturalist

 

 

 

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image credit: google images

Aug21

dove.

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why does the dove sit and visit

day after day

her answer is

this rustic nest

built atop the rail

tucked way beneath the tomato plant

a safe and shaded home

for the baby doves

soon to be welcomed into the world.

 

—

“and there my little doves did sit

with feathers softly brown

and glittering eyes that showed their right

to general nature’s deep delight.”

-elizabeth barrett browning

Jul29

early birds.

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fresh fruit breakfast for the early birds

watching the early birders watching the birds

 

—

“when you have seen one ant, one bird, one tree, you have not seen them all.”

  • e.o. wilson 
May10

spring chickens.

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the kinder, who are spring chickens, check out the other spring chickens

and the other spring chickens check out the kinder. 

—

“the sun’s not yellow, it’s chicken!”

-bob dylan

Mar23

nests.

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robin’s nests created by the kinder using natural materials 

clay, twigs, pinecones, clippings

any robin would be happy to raise her babies in one of these beautiful homes

 

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“wildness we might consider as the root of the authentic spontaneities of any being. it is that wellspring of creativity whence comes the instinctive activities that enable all living beings to obtain their food, to find shelter, to bring forth their young; to sing and dance and fly through the air and swim through the depths of the sea. this is the same inner tendency that evokes the insight of the poet, the skill of the artist, and the power of the shaman.”-  thomas berry