Spud the starling

In my latest book, In Defense of Nature, I make the case for the importance of discovering the denizens of one's own backyard ecosystem. We are far too abstracted from nature, and that includes, abstraction from human nature. Here is Spud, the fledgling starling, demonstrating the importance of this argument.

On the whole, I wish Spud were a little more abstracted from our nature. My youngest son found him, seemingly abandoned, in a parking lot, and brought him home. He looked something like a slightly rotten potato, hence the name "spud."

In the above picture, Spud is discoursing loudly on the importance of early morning worms, while I am presenting the contrary, the importance of early morning coffee on the porch with my wife (while not being interrupted by an obnoxious bird squawking in one's ear). We are training him to make a go of it himself (or herself).
             

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