“The universe is math on fire.”
Scott Westerfield, author
The green heron stood on the dock with its two short twig-like yellow legs. Usually the screen door opens and he takes flight immediately. The kittens, Harry and Wilhelmina, dashed out, putting their front paws on the porch railing for a better look. The heron did not leave but stalked awkwardly up the dock. He was doing some early morning fishing. The kittens don’t seem to be a threat to birds just yet. They still have an innocent, sometimes clumsy, appearance about them. I’d be happy if they stayed that way.
Our birdwatcher friends, Ruth and Greg, arrived from Mobile. They strolled around the yard with binoculars, pointing out birds and giving us their proper names. The brilliantly yellow and solitary prothonotary warbler remained for more than a half hour nipping at the ash tree. He’d nip and sing and look around, giving us a performance. In the sunlight he was mesmerizing.
Ruth also sighted a summer tanager. Were it not for the kindnesses of true birder friends, we’d not have a clue as to the names and calls of most of our own yard birds.
Out by the gate of the perennial garden a pair of cardinals built a nest in the loropetalum. Unfortunately, every time I went through the gate the female took flight. I notice the attentive male perched nearby. In time, I saw three little heads bobbing above the nest, and later the male and female darting in and out of the bush.
Again and again, the kittens followed me on morning chores but never seemed to notice the birds or the nest. Mrs. Cardinal had chosen an excellent home site; it was thick with small leaves and unnoticeable without really searching. I thought it was a rather small nest for the size of a cardinal. Then one day the birds were gone. Truly a miracle.
Here’s another recently-discovered miracle — Fibonacci numbers.
Fibonacci numbers are a sequence of numbers found in nature. The numbers are 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34 and so on. Every number in the sequence is the sum of the two previous numbers: 0+1=1, 1+1=2, 1+2=3, 2+3=5, etc.
Our garden’s Shasta daisies have 34 petals; the black-eyed Susans that dot our fields have 21 petals. Numerous plants have a stem arrangement of three or five leaves. Most bell peppers have three inner chambers. The inside cross-chamber of an apple forms a five-pointed star. The starfish shapes I cut out of sandpaper for Vacation Bible School have five arms.
Pine cones are most amazing. The spirals go in two directions, 13 spirals open to the left and eight spirals open to the right. Both 13 and eight are Fibonacci numbers.
As humans we have two feet and two arms, each with five digits. Our birds have two wings and three front toes. All Fibonacci numbers.
Leonardo Fibonacci, a mathematician, lived in the 13th century and came up with nature’s numbering system. It’s an amazing world we live in.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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