Portrait of a Female Wood Duck

 In Birds

I was trying to figure out the difference between the female wood duck and the mandarin duck when working on this frame. They look almost identical. The main difference is actually in the white spots surrounding the eyes. It is strange that the male of both species look so different while the female look so alike.

The purpose of finding out the correct species is just so that I can name and title them properly. With an ever-growing archive of images, it also helps to be able to find specific images when I need them. I usually have a hard time finding out the name of the species that I am seeing for the first time, especially birds and flowers.

It is useful to know the names from a utility point of view, but the truth is that the names have nothing to do with reality. You do not know water by the word “water”. The word water doesn’t quench your thirst. Knowing the words “wood duck” doesn’t make it anymore special, on the contrary I feel that sometimes it diminishes the impact of the experience. Just by referring to it as a “duck” makes it just a duck, like the countless of others you think you have seen. When you really see one in front of you with your heart, the word disappears and you experience the truth of its being.

The difference in the experience is in its intensity.

It is like talking about a tiger and being in front of a tiger. Standing in front of one takes the intensity to a whole new level.

Being awake is living life with intensity. How awake are you? Are you living life with full intensity or are you just playing with words in your mind?

Words usually tend to mislead simply because everyone understand the same word in varying degrees. Thinking is just organizing all those words around in your head. What if your vocabulary is limited? Imagine how freeing will it be if you just let your thoughts go and be fully immersed in life, wherever life brings you.

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