Finding Ourselves in the Natural World

The May 2025 issue of The Sun takes flight with an avian theme, from Mark Leviton’s illuminating interview with Jennifer Ackerman on bird intelligence to Leath Tonino’s meditative essay “Overheard While Bird-Watching.” These pieces reveal birds as both mirrors of our humanity and messengers from another way of being. As Ackerman notes, “The misguided use of ‘bird brain’ as a slur has finally come home to roost.”

This theme of discovering insight through careful observation resonates throughout The Sun’s archives. Oceanographer Sylvia Earle reminds us that “whether we’re talking about bacteria or elephants or pine trees, the basic recipe for the chemistry of life is the same.” In “Nesting,” written during the early pandemic, Ira Sukrungruang finds unexpected solace watching bluebirds as he tries to reconnect with his son: “I watch the birds because I’m lonely, too.”

From Gary Walts’s intimate photo essay of the LaBrie family farm to Chris Bursk’s poem about the persistent hope embodied in birdsong, these selections demonstrate how paying attention to our surroundings—field, forest, or farmyard—can ground us during uncertain times. They offer both refuge and perspective, revealing that when we truly observe nature, we’re not watching something separate from ourselves but participating in what Earle calls the “glorious green mantle of the earth,” the interconnected web of life to which we all belong.

Take care and read well,
David Mahaffey, Editorial Director

The Sun Interview

Sunken Treasures

By Michael Shapiro July 2018

Fish have homes; they’re homebodies. They may swim around, but they come back to the same place repeatedly. Parrot fish make beds in the ocean floor and cover themselves with a blanket of sand. And then in the morning they shake themselves off, get up, and move around.

Essays, Memoirs, and True Stories

Nesting

By Ira Sukrungruang March 2021

I spend most of my time outside these days. I eat outside. I work outside. I read outside. For the last couple of weeks Bodhi hasn’t wanted to be outside. He doesn’t say why. I think it’s because he sees other kids playing outdoors with their siblings, and he wants to play, too, but he can’t. This makes him lonely. Watching him breaks my heart, so I watch the birds instead. I watch the birds because I’m lonely, too.

Photography

The Labrie Farm

By Gary Walts January 2002

“They are not trying to hurt me,” Arthur says of the cows. “They are just itchy from being cooped up in the barn all winter.”

Poetry

The Thing With Feathers

By Chris Bursk November 2005

That insufferable optimist. No matter how many doors you slam, curses you shout, rocks you throw, it pipes up louder than ever on this very branch of this very tree outside your house.