Monday, February 19, 2007
Beautiful Patterns Happen, and Human Minds Can Perceive Them

I was hiking in a bird sanctuary in New Mexico on a warm winter day with my 12 month old son on my back. It was 1990.

The snow geese liked to hang out in the water in the morning, but they flew to a field with old corn in it for lunch. Local farmers could grow crops in the sanctuary, but had to leave half of the crops in the fields for the birds to eat. The field was about a mile from the water. A group of about 20 birds would take off from the water and fly towards the corn field in a "V" shape. From high above, they looked down and realized THIS FIELD was where all their friends were, so they spiraled down to get to their lunch.

My son kept pointing up at the birds as they spiraled down. About every 30 seconds, another small "V" of birds would arrive. But it took the birds longer than that to spiral down. I gradually became aware of three or four distinct "V" flocks of birds superimposed upon each other, at different spots in the spiral down to lunch.

Superimposed upon each other along my line of sight, the birds' "V patterns" flew in and out of each other in much the same way that my high school marching band had done 10 years before. And I was getting it. And I think my 1-year old son realized this was something special too.

Beauty and wonder in the universe are not rare, but it is truly amazing that they can be appreciated. Of course, this is at the root of kalimba music.

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