“Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder; to cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man; to satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth? Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew? Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?”
The 2015 National Book Award Nonfiction Longlist contains two books classifiable as natural history: Rain: A Natural and Cultural History by Cynthia Barnett and The Soul of an Octopus; A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Montgomery.
Curiously, neither of these books was on my radar as no review copies ever arrived. Thus I am uncertain as to which I would prefer to see ultimately chosen as the winner.
Two things about living in the Pacific Northwest of the United States are most certainly true: the “default” weather forecast is always for rain and with precious few exceptions the birds match the color palette of the weather.
Deep inside the Pacific coastal rain forest in the Saddle Mountain State Natural Area, Oregon Equipment: Body: Canon 40D Lens: Canon EF 20mm f/2.8 USM Settings: F-stop: f/3.5 Exposure time: 1/50 sec. ISO speed: ISO-400