Carnivores and omnivores galore

Many of yesterday's photos have some redeeming qualities although too many of them are dominated by fences and fencing. As far as I know, each of these animals is indigenous to Minnesota. The links under each picture take you to the Minnesota DNR's web page on that animal. In different ways, each of these creatures, especially the wolves, reminds me of the lessons in Aldo Leopold's Thinking Like a Mountain. I've read and reread the essay and understand all the words. The thinking is something I'm still working on. The back story to the essay was recently published in the Paris Review, of all places. It's worth a read.

barred owl

Photo by J. Harrington

puma / cougar / mountain lion

Photo by J. Harrington

timber wolf

Photo by J. Harrington

timber wolf

Photo by J. Harrington

black bear

Photo by J. Harrington

bobcat

Photo by J. Harrington

coyote

Photo by J. Harrington

The River at Wolf

By Jean Valentine 

Coming east we left the animals

pelican beaver osprey muskrat and snake   

their hair and skin and feathers

their eyes in the dark: red and green.   

Your finger drawing my mouth.

Blessed are they who remember

that what they now have they once longed for.

A day a year ago last summer

God filled me with himself, like gold, inside,   

deeper inside than marrow.

This close to God this close to you:

walking into the river at Wolf with

the animals. The snake’s

green skin, lit from inside. Our second life.

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