
Multicolored rock strata at Zhangye National Geopark, 張掖國家地質公園, China

Multicolored rock strata at Zhangye National Geopark, 張掖國家地質公園, China

Red and yellow maccaw, Macrocercus aracanga, by Edward Lear (1812-1888)
(Open in new window for larger image)
(Now Scarlet Macaw, Ara macao)
Elsewhere other-accessible…
Up-conjured by the magus sun,
A daffodil’s a golden gun
That stoops its head lest it should be
A slayer inadvertently.
Peri-Performative Post-Scriptum
The toxic title of this portmanteau-porting post is, of course, self-explanatory.

“Adonis, M. Cytheris, and M. Menelaus, is indescribable; the eyes are pained as they gaze upon it; yet there is said to be an unnamed species from the emerald mountains of Bogota, of which a single specimen is in a private cabinet in London, which is far more lustrous than these.” — The Romance of Natural History (1861), Philip Henry Gosse
When they opened the trap, I was astonished by the range and beauty of their catch. There were pink and olive elephant hawkmoths; a pine hawkmoth, feathered and ashy; a buff arches, patterned and gilded like the back of a barn owl; flame moths in polished brass; the yellow kites of swallow-tailed moths; common emeralds the colour of a northern sea, with streaks of foam; grey daggers; a pebble prominent; heart and darts; coronets; riband waves; willow beauties; an elder pearl; small magpie; double-striped pug; rosy tabby. The names testify to a rich relationship between these creatures and those who love them. — George Monbiot, “Our selective blindness is lethal to the living world”, The Guardian, 20xii2017

Chough, Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax, on Cornish coast