Still fighting the down loading of pictures. Will try later. Anyway, definitive proof of nesting of the litle known "Blythe flat headed Catfish gob nesting sparrow "A little known species (?) totally restricted to an area of about 3 square feet, there are though, several disjunct colonies within the valley. Which leads me to believe that they are closely related to Red Cockaded WoodPecker. Their nesting areas are now all totally under the control of man.
Where as in years of the river being managed, the chances of Flat head Catfish dying and drifting ashore, to sun dry with their mouths open heve declined rapidly.Their existence rests upon the desire for Hunter gatherer Blythians to display their virility by nailing gutted Catfish carcasses to telephone poles. As the young of the tribe are drawn to the cities by by illusions of air conditioning, the pursuit is dying out. And the joyous capture and release ceremony may never happen again. I have only seen it once.
It involves a boat full of bright red half naked men, "The consumers of the corn beverage" slowly heading into the dock. while still in mid stream, "He of the big fish" stands up and hoists a giant cat fish over his head, whilst uttering the sacred words "Check out the size of this Mother Fucker". This causes the "Vestal virgins of the "Isnt he manly" to burst into giggles, as their mates joyously return with food for the winter and their crimson offspring (sun induced)wave and wander in front of trucks. The climax of the celebration comes when "He of the big fish" steps back, onto a misplaced container of sacramental corn wine, loses his balance and completes the ritual by falling backwards into the river, and lovingly returning the cat fish to its habitat. This spreads joy through out the land. I still laugh 4 years later It is blowing quite strongly and overcast, the sun is crawling up. Regards Roger
No comments:
Post a Comment