I can hear another flock of lilac-crowned amazons approaching. I scan the southern sky and spot them, an irregular line of broad-winged specks, necks thrust forward, wings beating hard. There are 17 in this group.
Below them, the landscape spreads out to the horizon: from the Pacific Ocean behind them, across the lush green coastal plain, to the blue foothills of the Sierra ahead. I don’t know where they’re going or what they see, how they’ll survive this year’s El Niño of drought and hurricanes. But I can imagine, and wonder. I can be inspired by Richard Louv to seek nature wherever I am, to cultivate my curiosity, to notice deeply and imagine otherworlds.
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This month’s podcast is about the power of noticing nature. We delve into the urban ecology of great-tailed grackles in my barrio in Oaxaca, Mexico; hear some excerpts narrated by internationally acclaimed nature author Richard Louv from his most recent book, Noticing: Intimate Encounters with the Natural World; and spend a morning away from the noise of town on the Oaxacan coastal plain, where a flight of endangered lilac-crowned amazons gives us a glimpse into their lives.
I had a lot of fun crafting this collaboration with Richard Louv, who was kind enough to narrate several excerpts from Noticing for me. In my Spanish version of the podcast, I got to play around with voice-over as well, as I arranged my Spanish narration of his excerpts on top of his reading in English. Let me know what you think!
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You can find the written, illustrated version of this story here: https://wildwithnature.com/2026/08/01/a-flight-of-amazons-noticing-nature-richard-louv/
