This is a micro-blogging site highlighting content (my own and others’) touching on the delight and destruction that happens when humans and non-human-animals come together/collide. Many of us are witnesses to that liminal space between the human world and the animal world, which can contain everything from the thrills of cross-species recognition (even communication?) to mass extinctions. We should have a lot to talk about.
But first, what’s a blue mot mot?
I wish I could say it’s a bird, but it’s not: it’s my *mishearing* of a bird’s name from a guide who was trying to tell me about these phenomenally gorgeous — and, according to the guide, also phenomenally stupid — birds. “Look!” he said. “They don’t even know to fly away from the tourists!”
This was in Costa Rica, and while I’ve always loved animals/nature documentaries, etc., my trip to Costa Rica in 2009 was when I started to realize that nature is fractal: the deeper you go, the more there is to learn. For me, the place where animals and humans meet each other and interact is particularly fascinating. Each of these interactions can generate a novel’s worth of tensions, contractions, betrayals, and thrilling discoveries, and yes, much is lost in translation on all sides; please join me as I explore what I can of that intriguing space. If you have something (short!) to share, like a link to an relevant article, a quick thought, or even a poem, please email me at info@bluemotmot.com or tweet me @blue_mot_mot.
Oh, and the blue mot mot? It was actually probably a Lesson’s Motmot in the blue-capped motmot family, and you can find out more about both on the wonderful Cornell University Lab Ornithology Neotropical Birds website.