A Pause For Beauty has been a little irregular lately as I completed renovations on the largest of the AirBnB apartments in the former Heron Dance offices, adding a second bedroom and three piece bath, and replacing the roof on the entire building. The final work should be done today and I look forward to getting back on a more regular schedule.

My cabin has been blessed with the pressence of a young redtail that hangs around and tries to figure out what to do about the ravens and barred owl that also inhabit these woods, reminding me of something Len Souncy, founder of The Raptor Trust, said to me.

My interview of Len Soucy appeared in the first issue of Heron Dancein 1994. The Raptor Trust, a bird rehabilitation center in the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge near Millington, New Jersey, treats thousands of sick and injured birds every year. I interviewed Len in the evening, just before dark. He told me that he liked to wander around the numerous large cages after dark. I asked him what he thought about. The words in this poster are from his response.

We live in a truly marvelous world. A really, really interesting, diverse, marvelous place to have visited for a short time. Some get more out of it than others. Some of us try to get more out of it than others . . . I think you should make a conscientious effort to try. To be nosy. To look and to marvel. And not only to look but to see. Not only listen but hear on all different levels. It is indeed a marvelous world. Part of what makes it marvelous is our own kind. Part of what makes it incredibly marvelous to me are other than our own kind. I think it is important biologically to have them, but it's also important for my quality of life. I would not want to live in a world that had only people in it. I like snakes and frogs and creepy, crawly things and marvelous birds that can fly two hundred miles an hour and free my spirit . . .
- Len Soucy, Birdman of the Great Swamp and Cofounder of The Raptor Trust (Roderick MacIver interview)

Len died a couple of years ago. The work of The Raptor Trust is carried on by his wife and son.

The poster is $24.95. You can order it here.