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Telling Jizz from Jazz Posted
Peter Leschak
I saw a bird flash through the crown of an aspen, ruffling summer leaves, briefly lit by morning sun. At that instant I thought: robin. I’d keyed off the shape, size, and location. In the next instant I thought: but it was white, pure white! I had seen the bird for no more than three seconds.
In the birding lexicon there’s a phrase “general impression and shape” or G.I.S., spoken as “jizz.” It’s commonly a snap judgement, and experienced observers almost always have a jizz when they glimpse or hear a bird. That first impression may be wrong, but it registers. If my jizz was correct then I’d seen an albino robin. Is that even possible? Yes, there are albino birds, and according to data from the University of Wisconsin, robins express full or partial albinism more than any wild bird specie
Peter Leschak
Two decades ago I decided to identify every wildflower that grows on our forty acres of northern Minnesota woods. It seemed unmindful, even disrespectful, to be ignorant of the names of all those fleeting beauties.
At first it was a bonanza. I spent hours bumping from one plant to the next as blossoms unfurled in spring. My ignorance was stimulating, everything was novel. Not until you actually search do you realize what you haven’t been noticing, and also how few toys you need to have fun. I now recognize a hundred flowers, all found within a quarter-mile of the cabin at some point in the snow-free season. But as years passed, it became rare to discover a new species.