Earth Day: Fifty Shades of Red
Where the Vernal Meets the Vermillion
HALFWAY between the Equator and the North Pole, the green will come soon enough. Earth Day at this latitude is instead fifty shades of red.
It is the fireworks of a Beaked Hazelnut flower and the eruption from a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. It is maples ablaze and knotweed emerging.
Earth Day is the unequivocal crimson of a trillium and the incontrovertible carmine of a butterfly. It is the epaulets on a blackbird and the embodiment of an eft.
Fear not — the green is coming. But here in Vermont, and in lots of other temperate zones around the world where the leaves have not yet popped, the vernal is first a celebration of red.
And however you mark this day — on red alert for the planet, simply alert for the red, or both — I offer you Earth Day greetings and gratitude. We’re here together on a troubled planet, a beautiful place nonetheless — and the only one we’ve got.
News
- , who writes at , is building a directory of nature writers here on Substack. It’s called HOME, and launches in May. Thanks, Rebecca!
Another Milestone: Chasing Nature recently reached 6,000 subscribers, including more than 500 of you paying the monthly fee to help make it all work. We’ve gotten here in only 17 months on Substack. If paid subscriptions continue to grow, I hope to bring on board a part-time editor. Thanks to all of you for making Chasing Nature happen!
Before I get too busy this season running around outside with an insect net and field notebook, I’m hoping to add more goodies for paying subscribers. They’ll include:
A video lecture on sparrow identification (called “Solving Sparrows”).
Lectures on butterfly ecology and identification (in early July).
Don’t forget: My Practical Nature Photography seminar, recorded last year, is still available for paying subscribers through our Classroom.
For the writers among you, I’m trying my best to find time to run an online meet-up for Substack nature nature writers. (The good folks at Substack have offered to help with promotion.) We have lots to share and learn together.
Finally, thanks to Rollin Tebbetts for that Ruby-crowned Kinglet image (of which I am eternally envious). The rest of the images are mine.
From the Archives
Red Alert
Springtime and sexual identity expressed in maple flowers — now on display across much of the northeastern portion of the U.S. and nearby Canada.
Twitter, Notes and Sacred Wildflowers
Social media versus the sanctity of nature, where I am the algorithm. My reaction to Substack's introduction of Notes a year ago.
Kindred spirits abound. Seeking sanctuary in the wilds. Glad to know we are not alone. Perhaps better days are ahead. Thank you for sharing.
The Kinglet! What an outrageous joy! Biggest congrats on another milestone, Bryan, so well deserved. I don't know if I count as a nature writer, but if I do, an online meet sounds wonderful.