Tachycineta thalassina

They're back. Actually, they showed up yesterday. I thought they were a day early, maybe they forgot about leap year. I think of them as my birds, Tachycineta thalassina aka Violet-green swallow. I thought I'd learn something new today and try and figure out how Swainson named them in 1827. Tachycineta is one of those made Greek words meaning swift runner and thalassic pertains to smaller bodies of water. I like their French and Spanish common names: Hirondelle à face blanche and Golondrina Verdemar.

Now, if I can get the name of the bird who thinks everyone should get up at 5:13am!

Living consciously...

I was putting off opening up the book and reading the daily entry today. I'm having a lovely day and I could just see myself 'rolling my eyes' at the entry. The entry was titled "Fight or Flight" - been there, done that. Quickly scanning the words my eyes stopped at practice the art of flowing instead of fighting or fleeing. Was he referring to Csíkszentmihályi's Flow? Probably not. I did have a chuckle with the end of the practice: To claim your full birthright as a human being, you need to claim your ability to be with whatever is there. Otherwise, you are a human fleeing.

So true.