Q is for Qualifications
Although it's said with tongue in cheek, you hear people saying all the time, "if it's on the internet, it must be true." I guess that includes what I put out there too. However, I have no
qualifications to be an expert on anything I write, except perhaps a personal anecdote. And even then, everyone has a slightly different view of the same event.
So while I try to be correct in whatever I post, I don't always succeed. Remember in last week's
Second Look when I said that I was trying to learn to identify different sparrows. Well, apparently I needed more work because a friend pointed out that I made a mistake with the sparrow identification. (I have since fixed it.) I think with this week's Second Look I have everything correct, however I don't have expert
qualifications to guarantee this. That means, kids, don't use this as a reference for a school report. :)
Here are some things I saw this week
during a Second Look.
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| Spring Star Flower |
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| Pansy |
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| Variegated Vinca |
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| Red-winged blackbird. However, on this one you see a white stripe instead of a red one. |
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| Pansy |
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| Emerging leaves on a sweet gum tree. |
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The squirrel has not been able to open the suet feeder with the bolt.
It's still eating the suet, but it's not carrying the whole cake away now. |
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| Male cardinal eating suet that the squirrel dropped. |
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| Daffodil |
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| The sparrows and bluebirds have been laying eggs this week. |
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| Hawk |
That acrobatic squirrel is something else! Love that photo. And the eggs. The cycle of new beginnings. The pansies are beautiful! I've been having a hen and drake mallard come by my yard, every night, near 7:00 p.m. They fly in from the northeast, from I'm not sure where, but like clockwork they come, to scoop up seed dropped from the feeder. So now I await their arrival in the evening.
ReplyDeleteOh, I would wait for the mallards every evening if they came by my yard. What fun. I wonder if they have a nest in the area somewhere. Are there any ponds close?
DeleteThey fly off and out of sight of my eyes, so I would guess they are near the ponds, about a mile and a half from here, but spotted the bird seed somehow, so come here to avoid the severe competition for food at the pond.
DeleteI'm loving all these pictures!
ReplyDeleteI think your comments on qualifications are interesting especially in the personal finance blogosphere. It's important to take everything with a grain salt.
When I first started to read blogs, I was a little disturbed how so many people were giving advice with no other qualifications that what they thought or maybe a little personal experience. Coming from a science background, it just didn't seem right. However, I understand things better now and I've learned to take or leave things that I read. Or do some cross-checking.
DeleteLive and Learn, I love it when you publish your Second Look post. You take the most beautiful pictures and I always learn something! You are allowed to make mistakes! I've been calling my crotons "hostas" for a couple of years now, oops and I suspect that the "hawk" I see over my backyard from time to time might just be a vulture. Those Spring Star Flowers are gorgeous. I love the bird eggs too!
ReplyDeleteI'm still not very good with hawks and vultures unless I see them close up. No shortage of things to learn.
DeleteYour pansies are so hardy! They must have over-wintered. We had warm weather over the weekend and are starting to see some flowering trees pop. We have a finch nest on the front door wreath and a robin's nest in our flowering crab (or is it a flowering pear? I also don't have Qualifications ... ).
ReplyDeletePansies here often make it over the winter. That's why I like to plant them in the fall. One year, I tried to get them to survive the summer and the hot weather. I followed the directions I had read and kept them in the shade and well watered. Didn't have any success with that one though.
DeleteGreat pictures. I especially like the one of the squirrel.
ReplyDelete@WeekendsinMaine
Weekends in Maine
Squirrels are usually pretty entertaining and photogenic.
DeleteQualifications concern me, especially when people take the posture of experts w/out expertise. Arne Duncan comes to mind. He has no teaching experience or expertise, yet he was President Obama's choice as Secretary of Education until las December. His policies have done long-term harm to public education.
ReplyDeleteI teach student about ethos, and one way we all establish ethos is through our research and through our education and through our experiences. That is, you impress me as one who studies nature and works to put forth credible information; this elevates your ethos. Glenda from
Evolving English Teacher
I do do a fair amount of research. Of course, I use the internet, but I also have some other knowledgeable people whom I ask questions of regularly. And occasionally, I visit the naturalist at the local park. However, nature is a complex thing and I don't always extrapolate my knowledge properly.
DeleteAs for Arne Duncan. I just looked at his history briefly, and he looks like an administrator, not a teacher. That is a common problem in management. While they shouldn't spend their time doing everyone's job under them, they need to have experience doing the jobs they are managing and it needs to be renewed periodically.
I love spring. The colors are so beautiful after the dullness of winter. You capture nature so well that I always look forward to your Second Look
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lois. I think we both appreciate what we see outdoors.
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