Wall, penultimate evening of 2008

Yesterday evening the last ten minutes or so of sunlight turned the valley into something spectacular. I had a record shot prepared for this evening, but decided I liked this better. I might or might not post the other one later.

Happy New Year, everyone. May it bring the peace and joy we need.

All content © 2008 Pete McGregor

Scrambling rose

What must the world seem like to a thrips*, or a tiny wasp?

*"Thrips" is both plural and singular. It's like "species"— one doesn't say "specie" (unless referring to coins, collectively).

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Kea, Avalanche Peak

One of the pair of kea (Nestor notabilis) on Avalanche Peak in Arthurs Pass National Park; the mist-filled Crow Valley in the background. Perhaps a less striking photo than the earlier one I posted, but I like the way this seems to convey the bird's personality and it shows the bird in its true context.

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Park Valley from Mungo hut

March 2005. Morning mist clears from the Park Valley, the last major tributary of the Mungo headwaters, as my brother and I wait for the helicopter. We'd spent a week at Mungo hut, mostly rain-watching, but in Westland it pays to be philosophical about the weather.

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Bantam egg

Colour can be more subtle than we generally realise.

[Six of these delightful little bantams' eggs were a gift I can hardly bring myself to eat. I'll manage, though.]

All content © 2008 Pete McGregor

Home is more than place

"Birds in flight, claims the architect Vincenzo Volentieri, are not between places, they carry their places with them. We never wonder where they live: they are at home in the sky, in flight. Flight is their way of being in the world."
—(Geoff Dyer, from "Out of Sheer Rage: In the Shadow of D.H. Lawrence".)

I'm reluctant to call anywhere "home" because it can be taken to imply "home" is nowhere else, or indeed that it's a specific place — and only a specific place. But I'll put aside the nit-picking just for a moment and say this place, under this wild sky, is, for the time being, home.

[Photo at dusk just over a month ago, when the ti kouka (cabbage trees) were flowering profusely.]

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Miniature falls, Pohangina River

Detail from the Pohangina River on Tuesday (23 December). If you look closely at the lower right-hand edge of the backlit triangle of water in the centre of the frame, you'll see several tiny dark shapes. They're flies of some sort — possibly crane flies, perhaps the remarkable net-winged midges (Blephariceridae), of which Aotearoa has eight described species and several more known but not yet described. By the same time the next day, all this would have been underwater.

All content © 2008 Pete McGregor

Mother and child, Ranthambhore National Park

Well, it's Christmas Eve, and all going well I should be out of the hills — with lots of sightings of whio, I trust. Right now it's the 21st, the evening before we head to mid Pohangina hut to start the survey, and I'm scheduling this post for the evening of the 24th in case I'm too stuffed to fire up the rorohiko and work up a photo. This one seems as appropriate as any because it depicts at least two things I'm wishing for the season — that we love and take care of each other, and that wild things, wild places, and wildness itself, will survive. Merry Christmas, everyone.

Update, 24 December: The helicopter flew me out this afternoon, in weather that had me wondering whether I'd still be up in the Pohangina headwaters on Christmas Day. I ended up doing the survey alone as JJ was crook. A couple of beautiful days, then the rain began last night; I got about three quarters of an hour up the river on the last section of the survey before discretion supplanted enthusiasm. If I'd left it much later to turn around, I might not have got back to the hut, as the river was rising rapidly. But all's well, and I had a great time up there. Yes, wildness still survives.

All content © 2008 Pete McGregor

Downvalley from Chomrong, Nepal

On the Annapurna Sanctuary Trail. It's a steep climb up from that river.

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A dream of dark water

A dream of dark water, something whispering under branches. A hollow splash, ripples spreading. The moment begins to fragment as the slow stream swallows sound and light.

[Below the bridge over Te Awaoteatua Stream, 2 November 2008.]


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Clearing storm, Annapurna South

March 2007, at Tadapani on the Annapurna trail. The cloud begins to break towards evening, revealing glimpses of Annapurna South, like vignettes from the past. One might imagine the ghosts of long-perished climbers wandering restlessly up there, calling to their families, to their friends, to those who loved them. Do not forget us, they say.
All content © 2008 Pete McGregor

Blue sky, white roof

Two colours. My roof, on a day very different from today.

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Nor'wester over fence post

A wild sky this morning; bad weather on the way, in time for the weekend. Still, it's forecast to have cleared by Monday, when I head into the Ruahine for the whio survey — we're doing the headwaters of the Pohangina; being flown out by helicopter on Christmas Eve :^)

All content © 2008 Pete McGregor

Musicians' jam session at The Celtic

Each Tuesday evening the musicians gather at The Celtic. I hadn't been there for a long time, so I was surprised — and pleased — to see so many playing. It's all unplugged, too, so we who weren't playing could hold conversations without shouting. Although the place looks relatively empty, we had a good crowd; behind me were a couple of dozen people, and the smokers, of course, were all outside.

Update: I forgot to mention that this was at ISO 3200. Also, you can view a couple more photos on the latest post on PohanginaPete.

All content © 2008 Pete McGregor

The hills of Kumaon, from Kausani

Kausani, in the Kumaon region of Uttaranchal (now known as Uttarakhand), is famous for its views of the Himalaya. But the view in the other direction, from the far side of the ridge on which Kausani sits, has its own charm.

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Dog at Kausani

Most dogs I encountered in India were in terrible condition — many were mangy or otherwise diseased; most were thin, some to the point of being skeletal; the usual behaviour was craven. A few I kept well clear of — rabies kills tens of thousands of people each year in India and although I'd been prevaccinated I didn't relish the thought of the post-bite course of injections. But occasionally I'd meet dogs that were obviously well looked after; lovely animals who evoked feelings of delight rather than pity. This was the first of those, at the guest house at Kausani in the Himalaya. I'd like to think his expression here was one of melancholy because I was leaving, but he was probably just bored.

All content © 2008 Pete McGregor

Cat at the Jodhpur fort

After rooms full of knives and ramparts arrayed with cannon, small lives like these in the shadows of human history, surviving in the face of the threat of the human future, filled me with hope.

All content © 2008 Pete McGregor

Palm squirrel at Jodhpur

The history of the great fort at Jodhpur is one of war, violence, and political machinations (among other things). Yet the fort's occupants are not just human; what small battles are fought among its other inhabitants have almost no power beyond their immediate vicinity.

All content © 2008 Pete McGregor

Sack mender, Jodhpur market

In an out of the way corner of the main market in Jodhpur, I came across two men mending sacks. I have no idea whether this was their only work; no idea how long they mended sacks each day. They did seem pleased I was interested, although perhaps they were enjoying the craziness of foreigners who were interested in sack mending.

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Morning at the head of the White River

By the time we began the descent from the summit of Mt Wakeman the sun still hadn't risen high enough to warm the western slopes of the small side-valley. The first signs of bad weather drifted across the sky. We cramponned back down to Barker hut and spent the rest of the day relaxing and watching the cloud thicken. [Mid January, 2005]

All content © 2008 Pete McGregor

July snow

Just four months ago, snow coated the southern Ruahine, not quite reaching down to my place.

All content © 2008 Pete McGregor

Snow and ice, Mt Ruapehu

On a climb of Girdlestone, one of Mt Ruapehu's subsidiary summits, in 2005

All content © 2008 Pete McGregor

Bumblebee

From Boxing Day a couple of years ago. Just playing around.

All content © 2008 Pete McGregor

Ya pear

Sometimes simple things can't be beaten.

All content © 2008 Pete McGregor

Old ice, Otira Valley

By midsummer, only sun-eroded ice remains, the consolidated debris of winter avalanches slowly dripping away and forming the headwaters of the Otira River. Jono and I climb Rolleston twice — once by the popular Otira Slide route to check the descent route; then a couple of days later via the Otira Face. Days to remember.

All content © 2008 Pete McGregor

At the wedding, Kileswar [2]

Another man from the wedding party in the Barda Hills near Kileswar, Gujarat.

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Beach sculpture [2]

Another photo of artwork on Birdlings Flat, just south of Banks Peninsula.

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Stone curlews at Jamnagar

The stone curlew, or Eurasian thick-knee (Burhinus oedicnemus), is a strange-looking bird whose primary defence is to crouch or stand perfectly still. We were lucky to see these just before the last sunlight vanished. I'd never seen them before, and to date have never seen them again.

All content © 2008 Pete McGregor

Potter near Jodhpur

In the countryside near Jodhpur. He threw pots by hand on a simple wheel comprising a massive stone wheel spun with a stick, its momentum keeping it turning while he shaped the pot.

All content © 2008 Pete McGregor

Himalayan bulbuls at Kausani

Although the photo might suggest one bird is feeding the other, these Himalayan bulbuls (Pycnonotus leucogenys) in fact appeared to be disputing the ownership of the seed. It's easy to misinterpret the behaviour of birds (and other animals — including, and perhaps especially(!), humans). I try to avoid jumping to conclusions about what's happening; generally, I see no harm in simply watching, enjoying, and wondering.

All content © 2008 Pete McGregor

Rhesus macaque at Rishikesh

In her comment on the photo of the Tibetan wolf, RR mentioned how she'd tried to avoid anthropomorphism. It can be difficult with dogs, but it's hardest of all with monkeys.

All content © 2008 Pete McGregor