Date: 4/10/25 1:56 pm From: Joseph Neal <0000078cbd583d7c-dmarc-request...> Subject: Contemporary HMS Beagle
It has been my great fortune to go out in fields of praise and diversity with friends like Joan and David who enjoy birds and are also on outlook for often smaller, but no less important creatures, like tiny native wildflowers and dragonflies. All the thousands upon thousands of living testimonials to Life’s living evolution on this planet we call Earth.
Almost 200 years ago now, a young and deeply curious Charles Darwin traded terra firma England for far corners of our planet. Aboard HMS Beagle, he spent a lot more time than we do on one of our typical field trips, but he, like we, wanted to experience for himself the actual meanings of life and it’s so many manifestations.
The now storied voyage of HMS Beagle is history, but we renew when we go afield, with binoculars or magnifying glass, with hearts and minds open to what we might learn. Today’s voyage: to limestone cedar glades at Lake Sequoyah in Fayetteville. Of course didn’t see any Darwin’s Finches, but Louisiana Waterthrushes and Ruby-crowned Kinglets were singing. Submitted eBird checklist https://ebird.org/checklist/S224409414.
I heard one Blue-gray Gnatcatcher near me – a real gift since I have lost most of that range of hearing – and then saw another. The AW AW of Fish Crows comes through the background roar of the White River. In that mighty roar I missed many birds. Will return to hear and hopefully see.
Today, huge Common Green Darner dragonflies patrolled near heavens. And just as David promised when I asked him where I might find the tiny, immaculate butterfly – Juniper Hairstreak – there it was in a sunny opening among Eastern Red Cedars, with the roar of White River behind.
Lake Sequoyah, Fayetteville Arkansas, April 10, 2025, after a short voyage aboard my Good Ship, Subaru Forester. And in this way -- and in so many places -- and in hearts and minds of so many of us -- voyage of HMS Beagle never ends.
