Necessity is the mother of invention. This came to mind as we noticed that a pair of nesting owls had moved into last year’s red tail hawk home at Crane Creek. The female nocturnal bird stays patiently in the nest and her mate takes on hunting and feeding duty. The birds generally have a conspicuous circle of feathers around their eyes, “a facial disk”, which can be adjusted to sharply focus sounds to their ears. The owls possess binocular vision, great for distance in low light but they cannot see up close. Their eyes are fixed in the sockets but the 270 degree head rotation is due to 14 neck vertebrae versus 7 in humans. In case you wondered why that full rotation does not cut off the blood supply to their brain, they have adapted a unique circulatory system. Curious why they are “wise”, I found several explanations. The Owl of Minerva or Athena is a symbol of “knowledge, wisdom, perspicacity and erudition through out the Western World.” It also relates to an early English Nursery Rhyme. My preference is borrowed from Animal Wisdom, “the anthropomorphism of owl wisdom, comes from their eyes. They watch, they listen and they are relatively quiet.” There is a valuable observation for our modern world, “the qualities normally associated with wisdom: watching, listening, and being quiet.”
My spouse said, the nest is like an Airbnb. I thought I knew what it meant but learned more about this online marketplace that connects people who want to rent their homes with those looking for a short stay. In 2008, the founders, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia were trying to get their Development careers started in San Francisco, they were strapped for cash and decided renting their apartment during the busy convention in town made sense. They bought air mattresses and hosted travelers providing breakfast and sight seeing ideas. Little did they know that this idea would turn into the premier on line service and employee over 3000 worldwide. So, necessity may have been the seed for this invention. “Necessity is the mother of invention” is an old English proverb that likely originated from Plato suggesting difficult situations inspire ingenious solutions. Historians have found the phrase in Latin translated to English in the 1500s. Not everyone agrees with the phrase, Agatha Christie felt, “I don’t think necessity is the mother of invention. Invention arises directly from idleness, possibly also from laziness- to save oneself trouble.” Although, I enjoy Agatha’s mysteries I think this quote came on one of her off days.
It seems to me the great nest builders have a ready source of income if they can connect and collect from those wise owls and others who now move in rent free.
Hope you can create something this week end-good memories seem to be the easiest and most lasting. “A balanced world is a better world” take a moment to celebrate International Women’s Day. Mike