The neighbourhood flicker is a handsome bird.

And always watchful. We love our flicker! Especially in the orange light that breaks through the car exhaust that is the latest idea for this old slip fault valley and its molten glacier.

That stuff is explained away as “a temperature inversion.” You know: warm air on top of cold air, trapping all the stuff that usually evaporates away. Well, yeah, good to know. That stuff really makes the colours pop, though…to humans, at least. To other flickers, I dunno. Maybe it’s the wrong colour entirely.

Those chest feathers should be white. Well, they are, but who would know? Does another flicker know? Is another flicker even looking? Or does a big colour shift dampen flicker desire? Could it be that dirty air dampens human desire, too? Dunno. Here, let’s check. Does the following image fill you with hope and longing for the future?

This smoke is largely coming from the cars and wood stoves of retirement communities. Procreative desire matters there not a whit. The kids are across the mountains, in Calgary. Not so, the flicker.

It would be good if our university tackled these issues this year. I hope so. Last year, the explorations seemed a little…

… well, little. I mean, try smelling your partner’s shirt in this:

Maybe Pokémon Go is just a “so what” moment. Let’s ask the flicker: