Gleanings of the Week Ending July 29, 2017

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

When you can’t remember where you are or how you got there – Transient Global Amnesia. Evidently accident and emergency units are accustomed to seeing 2 or 3 cases a month. The good news is that usually it happens once…and not again…and that the memories return except for the brief period of the episode. Brain imaging studies show abnormalities in the hippocampus during the episode. The description sounds like a hippocampus re-boot.

New Kingdom Egypt: The goldsmith’s tomb – On an island in the Nile River in Sudan, there is evidence of a multicultural settlement: Egyptian and Nubian….with a focus on gold.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week # 97 – My favorite is a Green Bee-eater with a dragonfly.

How to Feed the World Without Killing the Planet? – A thoughtful piece about how we can all eat well into the future and not contribute to mass extinction.

Treated Fracking Wastewater Contaminated Watershed with Radium and Endocrine Disrupters – A study of sediments of Conemaugh River Lake – a dammed reservoir east of Pittsburgh – revealed that the highest concentrations of endocrine disrupting chemicals, carcinogens and radium peaked 5-10 years ago during a peak period of fracking wastewater disposal. High radium levels continued 12 miles downstream from treatment plants. Bottom line: treatment of fracking wastewater is not protecting our water supply. Aargh!

Plant Sources of Protein – This is done by serving size. I wish they had done it by calorie so it would be more obvious which sources are more protein dense. I found a reference that includes a table that shows grams of protein per 100 calories for some foods here although the list is not as extensive as I would like and includes too many highly processed items.

The underground railway that became a secret wartime base – In Bristol.  A railroad built to tunnel up a cliff from the port to a spa area in the late 1800s…that closed in 1934 but then during the bombings of World War II it housed the BBC Symphony Orchestra and a little later an alternate broadcast center. It became the nerve center for the BBC in the west of England for the rest of the war. The tunnel became a derelict by 1960 and is slowly being opened for tours now.

Prairie Noise – Some pictures and a short video of a cicada ‘singing’ – it’s the sound of summer to me both from growing up in Texas/Oklahoma and where I live low in Maryland.

Recovery: Bringing Back Bumble Bees – 46 indigenous bumble bee species in the US are at some risk of extinction. Bumble bees are frequently more efficient pollinators than honey bees. We in the US have been slower than other countries to recognize their importance and act to stop practices that make their survival more difficult.

59 Retro Posers Celebrate the Colorful Diversity of America’s National Parks – Eye candy for the week!

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 22, 2017

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

View and Print 3D Models of Smithsonian Artifacts – An article about Smithsonian X 3D – a website worth browsing through – a museum available from home!

Deepest dive ever under Antarctica reveals a shockingly vibrant world – From National Geographic – great pictures as usual.

The one trillion-ton iceberg: Larsen C Ice Shelf rift finally breaks through –  Lots of ice…leaving the Antarctica ice shelf.

Periodic Table in Pictures and Words – Hopefully this is use in intro to chemistry courses rather than the older form of the periodic table.

Can the Monarch Highway help save a butterfly under siege? – Making I-35 the safe corridor for Monarch migration. It won’t help the situation in Maryland where the Monarch population as dropped dramatically over the past 10 years.

The Chemistry of Frozen Desserts – Thinking about cool foods for summer heat…

Photography in the National Parks: Favorites for each season – National Parks are always good bets for photography…but going at the right time of year can make them even better.

Preeclampsia: New study documents its enormous economic and health burden – Rates of preeclampsia are rising…driven in part by maternal age and obesity….and it costs a lot. Hopefully continued research will improve prediction and treatment.

Birds around the world in 31 incredible photos –  From National Geographic….Celebrating the diversity of birds.

Study: Bumblebee Species Declining Worldwide – Researchers evaluated 40% of the 260 identified bumblebee species worldwide…and 30% of those evaluated were dwindling. Species that inhabit small geographical ranges appear to be at higher risk…and more vulnerable to warming climates.

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 15, 2017

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

How climate change will transform business and the workforce – The way we work and the skills employers need will be changing…is climate savvy going to be become as important as tech savvy?

How to see if home prices are rising or falling where you live – The link is to an article….that contains the link to a zoomable map of the US. My house is in an area that has seen 20-39% increase in home prices since 2000.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #95 – I liked the picture of the two pintails…the tails clearly visible as they are taking off: matched choreography.

Greenland’s summer ocean bloom likely fueled by iron – It turns the water of much of the Labrador Sea turquoise!

Surf through newly digitized images to see Rome’s ever-changing history – Many images collected by Rodolfo Lanciani and then supplemented. I am looking at this source as well as books by Lanciani on Internet Archive.

Owls’ wing could hold the key to beating wind turbine noise – I guess humans are not keen on wind turbine noise, but will reducing the noise increase the deaths of birds? I include a demonstration for pre-schoolers that includes the sound made by flapping a turkey feather and then an owl feather….and they are always surprised at the silence of the owl feather.

How Abstract Photography has evolved and still continues to inspire art – A little photographic history…and maybe some ideas for you own photography experiments.

Scientists unveil reconstructed face of ancient Peruvian mummified female leader – And she was only in her mid-20s when she died.

Whole Grains: Good for the Gut – And whole grains have more flavor too.

Women of Color Face a Staggering Amount of Harassment in Astronomy – Not good…and it’s even worse in physics.

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 8, 2017

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #94 – There were several parent birds interacting with young in this set. My favorite was the American Oystercatchers!

Ancient concrete: Learning to do as the Romans did -  Looking more closely at 2,000-year-old harbor structures. The work could lead to concrete manufacturing techniques with less environmental impact than those in common use today.

Three Ways the Interstate System Changed America – It started in the 1930s…with Eisenhower leading the way in the 1950s. I remember the develops from the 1960s onward. The highways are convenient but they homogenize the way we travel too. The goal now seems to be to get to our destination as fast as possible rather than really seeing anything other than the highway along the way.

The detectives who investigate food poisoning mysteries – I was surprised that the culprit one of the cases was flour!

Padre Island National Seashore in Early Summer and Hatch and Release at Padre Island National Seashore – I’m reading up on this area of Texas and there seems that a lot is happening there this spring. My husband and I are planning a trip there in the late fall – for the arrival of wintering birds.

10+ Awe-Inspiring Impressionist Masterpieces Painted by Claude Monet – So beautiful.

To buzz or to scrabble? To foraging bees, that’s the question – The first author on this study is my son-in-law (Avery Russell)! Videos here.

‘One of a Kind’ Collection of Animal Eyeballs Aids Research on Vision Problems – The Comparative Ocular Pathology Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Oregon Wildlife Painter Captures the Beautiful Diversity of Local Birds – Includes an interview with the artist. I like the way he has a lot of detail in the environment around the bird in his paintings.

Sunscreen Myths vs Facts – Summer time…spending a lot of time outdoors…now’s the time to remember the sunscreen.

Herons at the Neighborhood Pond

Our neighborhood pond is still an eyesore – cleaned out with a bulldozer in late spring, most of the vegetation gone, and covered with algae. But it is full of frogs which can sometimes be spotted if you hear plops as they move through the shallows. It’s made the pond a good place for a green heron which I have seen so frequently that it must be a near permanent resident. I always enjoy photographing green herons because they have so many ‘looks.’ Sometimes they look chunky and not much like a heron. Other times the feathers on top of their head stand almost straight up…a bird with a mohawk! Other times their neck elongates but looks very thick and strange for a heron. But sometimes they hold themselves in a pose that looks like most of the other herons (the very last image in the slide show below.

I spotted a Great Blue Heron in the pond last week. It doesn’t have adult plumage and the bill is two-toned so it probably is one that hatched this spring. It has a white spot under its eye which I noticed in several images; maybe that makes it unique. It found a meal near the pond drain but swallowed it before I could see what it was – maybe a frog…or a small fish.

Even though the pond has no visual appeal on its own, I like the birds that are there!

Birding through a window – June 2017

My favorite birding-through-a-window episode was a gray catbird at the bird bath just outside our front door. It happened in mid-afternoon on the first of the month. At first, I thought the bird had come for a drink…but it jumped in a used the bath! It seems like I am seeing catbirds more frequently this year – or maybe I am just more aware of their sounds and am looking for them when I hear them.

There are the usual birds around our house as well: the grackle,

The robin,

The dove (precariously perched on our anemometer),

Finches (gold finches and house finches both),

And blue jays.

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 24, 2017

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #92  and #93 – These come out every week! I can never resist looking through the photographs and picking a favorite. #92 includes a lot of birds I’ve enjoyed photographing myself…but my favorite is a close-up of a flamingo. In the second one – my favorite is Forster Tern mates.

Frank Lloyd Wright Exhibition at MoMA Celebrates the Architect’s 150^th Birthday – A little bit of architectural history

Architecture 101: 10 Architectural Styles that Define Western Society – More architectural history…a broader view. Be sure to look at all 5 pages (at the bottom there is a bar that links to the next page).

A Vessel of Life in the Philippine Seas  and Under the Mangrove Sea – Two 1Fram4Nature pieces…great images and some ideas on what you can do.

Why it’s time to stop punishing our soils with fertilizers – The more we learn about soils, the more it is obvious that applying more and more chemicals (pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, fertilizers) is killing the soil…and making it very difficult to keep it productive over the long term.

Op-Ed – Is it time for a radio astronomy national historic park? – A suggestion for a historic park similar in concept to the Manhattan Project National Historic Park where several sites across the country are part of the park. For radio astronomy, the sites might include Arecibo (Puerto Rico), Green Bank (West Virginia), and The Very Large Area (New Mexico).

2017 Kids Count Data Book – A recently released study of state trends in child well-being. The statistic that surprised me the most was that as of 2015, 65% of 4^th graders in the US were not proficient in reading. That is a lot higher than anyone would want it to be.

Infographic: Plastic Pollution – It’s not just bottles and packaging…it’s also synthetic fibers that are shed when we launder our clothes.

Father’s Day Photo Gallery – A week late…but this was a great photographic series from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology

MAVEN’s top 10 discoveries at Mars – We went to the launch back in November 2013 (my blog post here) so I notice articles like this…nice that is has been successful.

Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in June 2017 – Birds

The dominate bird sighting on our visit to Kenilworth Gardens last week were Canadian geese. They were hard to ignore because of their size and the aggressiveness of the adults in protecting their goslings. They hiss if you are too close – and attack if you continue closer….so we gave them wide birth. We re-routed to other paths through the gardens several times!

When I saw a group on one of the ponds I thought I could get closer and they would just mill around in the water…but then I noticed that another pair with goslings were nearby. I used the zoom on my camera again.

I was disappointed that we didn’t see any herons on this visit. Previously I had photographed both Green and Great Blue Herons in the gardens. I did see a red wings black bird. It was so far away that I only was able to identify it via the zoom on my camera.

And there were cardinals that flitted about in the trees along the boardwalk toward the Anacostia River.

Previous posts about this visit: insects, water lilies.

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 17, 2017

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Lost ecosystem found buried in mud of southern California coastal waters – An ecosystem that had existed for 4000 years died off in the early 1900s – destroyed by sedimentation from coastal land use practices from 1769 onward.

Gigantic Aztec Temple Unearthed in Mexico City – Built to look like a coiled snake. A hotel owns the site.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week # 91 – Do you have a favorite from the bird images this week? I liked the cormorant catching the fish.

Prairie Ecologist Photo of the Week – Poppy mallows and yarrow…and the bug drama on them (Hint: it involves a crab spiders and a fly)

The Chemistry Behind the Opioid Epidemic – It’s not just about heroin any more. Many people became addicts from drugs prescribed by their doctors for pain. I listen to stories on this topic trying to understand why the medical establishment in not doing more to keep people from becoming addicted.

Sounds of Nature in National Parks are being Trampled by Noise – Modern conveniences are noisy. Now that I have a car that operates as an EV most of the time, I am realizing how much car noise is almost everywhere. At least there are beginning to be EV options. In my neighborhood, lawn mowers and leave blowers are big nose emitters.

Art History: The evolution of landscape painting and how contemporary artists keep it alive – Eye candy….I like landscapes in general and appreciated the bit of history….also the artists producing landscapes today.

Climate change could make cities 8C hotter – Wow – the urban heat island effect already makes cities a little hotter than countryside….it gets worse as the countryside gets warmer.

Reading the Neandertal Smile – A study of the dental calculus (calcified dental plaque) of 5 European Neandertal specimens revealed that some were meat eaters, others vegetarians depending on whether they lived in a steppe or forest environment.

The Celiac Surge – This article discusses the rapid increase in celiac disease…and potential causes.

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 10, 2017

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Is air pollution getting worse or better? – Overall, air quality has improved…but we’ve also learned more about the harm air pollution causes…and there is still a lot more that needs to be done both is improving air quality and understanding aspects that are the most problematic.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #89 and #90 – Two groups of bird pictures. Which ones are your favorites? The first group includes the mating display of the great egret. My favorites in the second group are two of birds in flight: a wood duck and a peacock.

Artist uses fire and smoke to create incredible paintings of birds – More birds....images made with fire, soot and acrylics.

Lavau Celtic Prince: 2,500-year-old royal tomb starts to reveal its secrets – A tomb in eastern France…I liked the pictures of the artifacts as they emerged during excavation.

Insects color our world – Beautiful images….and some tips on actions that can help insects in our environment.

The Kid’s Guide to How the Internet Works – When my daughter was in elementary school 20 years ago, they were beginning to teach children about how the internet works and internet safety. Now it seems like this instruction is even more needed – critical to our children’s wellbeing.

Did children build the ancient Egyptian city of Amarna? – An article about the excavation of a cemetery of children, teenagers, and young adults. Based on the analysis of the skeletons, many have traumatic injuries and degenerative conditions caused by frequent heavy labor.

The US Lags Behind in Meteorology – Europe has forged ahead at a time when the US has cut computing power, research budgets and the National Weather Service. The American weather models are increasingly being discounted for forecasts more than 3 days out.

Antarctica is turning green – Antarctica is warming at a faster rate than the global average…about 0.5 degrees Celsius each decade for the past 60 years. Instead of white, there is more and more green!

Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens – A photo guide to common damselflies and dragonflies – A two page quick reference. My husband and I will use it later this month and in July when we visit Kenilworth – attempting to photograph dragonflies.

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 3, 2017

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #88 – My favorite is the roadrunner with the lizard!

American Trees are Shifting West – Based on analysis of tree inventories done between 1980 and one finished in 2015 and included 86 species of trees.

New York Marine Life Revealed at Brooklyn Photo Exhibition – Underwater views by photographer Keith Ellenbogen….raising awareness of the conservation needs of local marine wildlife and their habitats.

An inside view of Hong Kong’s hidden rooftop farms – Born out of fear of contaminated food! Fresh, locally grown vegetables are a luxury in the big city that imports more than 90% of its food.

Monarch butterflies: the problem with herbicides – Research that looks at the many factors that contribute to the decline of this migratory insect. I know that in our areas of Maryland there are a lot fewer Monarch butterflies than 20 years ago.

It’s Not Easy Being a Hatchling – 3 osprey hatchlings…growing fast….the live cam feed is available here.

New Online Database Catalogues 20,000 Threatened Archaeological Sites – Armed conflict, looting, tourists, construction….there are a lot of sites at risk. The link is an introductory article; the site itself is here.

The future of employment – There are quite a few categories of jobs that will be done by computers rather than people in coming decades. Some – like registered nurses and teachers – will still be performed by people.

Extremely Detailed Macro Portraits of Colorfully Exotic Insects – Insects….done with one shot, not stacked images.

Vacation at Toadstool Geologic Park – Sometimes out of the way places hold a charm found no where else!

3 Free eBooks – May 2017

I am enjoying the Hathi Trust collection of books authored by Robert Sweet – a botanist, horticulturist, and ornithologist that published in the early 1800s. They are all beautifully illustrated….and I like the botanical prints and bird depictions in books from the 1800s.

The British Flower Garden has drawings by Edwin Dalton Smith. London: W. Simpkin and R. Marshall. There are 7 volumes available from Hathi Trust: 3 in the first series and 4 in the second published between 1823 and 1838.

The ornamental flower garden and shrubbery was a work selected from selected from Sweet’s work and that of David Don and published by London: G. Willis in 1982. It is listed as volume 1 on Hathi Trust so there could be other volumes that are just not available yet online.

Cage and chamber-birds; their natural history, habits, food, diseases, management, and modes of capture listed Johann Matthaus Bechstein as the author, HG Adams as the editor and Sweet as the source for all information on warblers more than a half century after his death. London: G. Bell and Sons. 1892. The book is available online here. I was surprised that so many of the birds were consider viable cage birds during that time.

Cistinae. The natural order of cistus, or rock-rose was published by London: J. Ridgway, 1930 and is available on Hathi Trust here. Sweet is listed as the sole author on this one.

Geraniaceae : the natural order of gerania was published by London: J. Ridgway, 1930 and 5 volumes are available from Hathi Trust here. During that time period there were a lot of varieties of ‘geraniums’ that were developed and cultivated. I’ve only gotten through the 1^st volume so far….still have the other 4 to savor!

Gleanings of the Week Ending May 27, 2017

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

US life expectancy varies by more than 20 years from county to county – So many variables…lifestyle, healthcare, poverty. The result is a daunting public health picture.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week # 87 – The kingfisher is my favorite in this group of images.

17 Mummies Unearthed in Egypt – There could be even more. They appear to be from Egypt’s Greco-Roman period. Hopefully more details will be reported as the excavation continues.

Several articles about women’s health that came out reclently: 1) We’re Ignoring Women Astronauts’ Health at our Peril – The surprise is how little we really know about human health risk (there isn’t much even on men’s health although the Twin Study has provided an uptick of information) of long times in space. There is a lot to learn as humanity enters spacefaring. 2) Focus on infants during childbirth leaves US moms in danger – This one came out a few days before Mother’s Day. I was appalled that women are dying during or immediately after childbirth in the US that I thought were well within our expertise to prevent.

The most dangerous highways in America – I am on the one listed for Maryland often!

Mega trends and technologies 2017-2050 – a graphic to display in large form (if you have it up in a browser – click on it to enlarge then scroll up/down and left/right.

Chihuly’s Colorful Glass Sculptures Sprout Up in the New York Botanical Garden – They will be there until October 29, 2017.

Don’t Screen for Thyroid Cancer, Task Force Says – There is enough experience with the results of increased testing over the past decade or so to determine that the ‘harms outweigh the benefits’!

Photography in the national parks: Birds, Beaches, Blooms, and Bottles at Padre Island National Seashore – Padre Island looks like a good destination for a birding trip…maybe next fall.

How to Clean the Eiffel Tower – A 43 second video shows how it is done….approximately every 7 years.

Our Neighborhood Water Retention Pond – Update 1

I posted last week about the work to clean out our neighborhood water retention pond – about the muddy mess of the banks. Since then, straw has been placed over the mud. I noticed it when I was heading out to a day of volunteering for pre-school nature field trips. When I returned in mid-afternoon, it was raining. I stopped, rolled down the passenger side window, and took pictures of the pond.

Some of the straw has already started to sluff down into the pond from the slopes; the rain was too much for the straw to hold…and some of the soil was probably going down to the pond as well. If there had been seeds put down with the straw, many were probably also in the pond. Hopefully something will start growing on the slopes quickly. I noticed some birds on the far side of the pond -probably some ducks, I thought, based on their size and the way they were moving.

I used my camera to zoom in on the ducks and was surprised; they were wood ducks!

There were 4 males and 1 female. They seemed to be finding a lot of tidbits in the straw and around the edges of the pond in general. I wondered if they had been to our pond before but had not been visible because of all the dense vegetation. With the condition of the pond now – there is probably not a good place for them to nest in our neighborhood this year.

I was so pleased to see the wood ducks – but will be happier when the pond does not look like a muddy construction zone.

Great Crested Flycatcher

There was a bird sitting on the support of the old weather instruments at my house a few days ago. It was something different than I had ever seen before. I took quite a few pictures through my office window hoping they would be good enough to identify it.

I used the Merlin app to help me identify it (size between a sparrow and a robin, colors yellow, brown and white, and on a fence or wire). And then browsed through the possibilities to figure out what it was. It was easy! Maybe next time I will try providing the picture to Merlin and letting it give me fewer possibilities.

I hope the Great Crested Flycatcher decides that the support is a good place to perch looking for insects. It seemed to spot something but then flew away at the same time some house finches few away from the bird bath that is located below. It would be an interesting bird to watch hunting insects all summer!

Gleanings of the Week Ending May 6, 2017

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Meditation: Which type is best for you? – So many choices…it doesn’t take long to choose and tailor one that fits your needs. I feel better when I have a meditation practice almost every day!

Sea-Level Rise Will Send Millions of Refugees to Inland Cities – A study authored by a demographer at University of Georgia about how the US will change as people move from areas that are increasingly flood prone over the next century. The state by state graphic shows Louisiana and Florida losing the most; Texas and Georgia gain the most. Maryland – where I live – gains a little.

Underdiagnoses of age-related macular degeneration, findings suggest – Evidently early stages of age-related macular degeneration is under diagnosed by both optometrists and ophthalmologists….something to talk to your provider at your next eye checkup if you are over 60.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #85 – Birds….always great eye candy. This set contains an American Oystercatcher near the bottom (a closer view than I captured near the Dupont Nature Center.

For Some, Pre-Hospice Care Can Be a Good Alternative to Hospitals – Palliative care at home…happier patients and saving money…win-win. Hope these types of programs become available nation wide.

The Essential I.M. Pei – The architect recently celebrated his 100^th birthday. This article from the Smithsonian includes pictures of his most iconic works.

Welcome to the Poison Garden: Medicine’s Medieval Roots – A description of the garden at Alnwick Castle that contains plants with poisonous properties.

Behold the James Webb Telescope in all its Unfurled Glory – It’s still under construction…but will succeed the Hubble Space Telescope (launch projected in 2018).

35 Years of American Death – An interactive US map with color coding to show mortality rates for different diseases from 1980 – 2014. The one for ‘mental and substance use disorders’ shows the impact of the opioid epidemic – more pronounced in some areas of the country than others.

3D printing of glass now possible – A new way to work with glass from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany).

Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge – Part 2

Continuing yesterday’s blog post about our visit to the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge near Smyrna DE….

There were quite a few Great Blue Herons – none were very close.

There were four way out in one of the ponds. When I zoomed in I discovered there were Northern Shovelers (ducks) and a Black-Necked Stilt.

Also further out – near the limit of my camera’s zoom – was a Great Egret and a lot of smaller birds. The ones with the black breast are Black-Bellied Plovers. In the second picture below there is one flying; the black belly with very white rump and black armpits are clearly visible.

Then something startled the birds and they flew up – curtaining the egrets behind them!

In another area, there were two mute swans. These are not natives. Many states try to control their numbers because they are aggressive and have such voracious appetites that they disrupt local ecosystems and displace native species.

I got several pictures of Yellowlegs. The ones with the longer bills are Greater Yellowlegs and the short bills are Lesser Yellowlegs.

Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge - Part 1

Last week, my husband and I attended a day of the Spring Delmarva Birding Weekend; our first destination was the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge near Smyrna DE. We learned so much from our time with our guide that we’ll plan another trip to the refuge soon so we can take it slow and do even more photography. I have so much to share from the 3 hours we were there this time, that I’ve divided it into 2 blog posts! At the visitor center, there were American Goldfinch enjoying thistle seeds,

Purple martins in and out of the ‘apartments’ and

A white throated sparrow that sat still long enough for me to photography. There were also robins and a brown thrasher which did not!

We did a short hike through some woods and heard/saw a lot of warblers but they move so fast I didn’t get any pictures. Even the cardinal moved to fast for me. We climbed an observation tower and there was an American Avocet visible through the foliage along with smaller birds beyond the distance my camera could capture well. At another location, there were many more Avocets.

There were also Black-Necked Stilt. I’m showing three pictures below of the same scene...zooming in. The black and white birds with the legs are the stilts.

More tomorrow….

Ten Little Celebrations – April 2017

It’s spring…and there is a lot to celebrate.

Second graders coming to Mt. Pleasant for the Science of Soil field trip. I’ve done two file trips for them so far and both have been a lot of fun – using the soil auger in several places while we hike, talking about rocks looking at the old rock wall dividing the fields, seeing how the stream restoration work done during the winter is greening up and full of puddles after a rain.

Azaleas. There are some in our neighborhood but making the trek to the Brighton Dam Azalea Garden is the day we celebrate the profusion of blooms and colors.

Pre-schoolers on a Nature Tales field trip. I’ve done three of the pre-school field trips at Belmont in April: two that were rainy days and one that we made it to the forest. I’m learning how to keep the younger children listening and participating for the whole 20-30 minutes I have them. There are so many little celebrations in every session because the children are so enthralled with the new things they are seeing and doing….I can’t help be celebrate with them.

Delmarva birding. My husband and I spend a day at the Delmarva Birding Weekend late last week. It was our first time to attend and we enjoyed it. I celebrated that there were so many birds to see (and photograph) not that far from where we live. I’ll be posting more about our experience in the coming days.

Faromir. One of our cats died in April. We celebrated his life…and that he was will us for 13.5 years. He was my husband’s little buddy.

Favorite lipstick available again. I’ve always liked Cover Girl Bronze Glow lipstick and was very disappointed when I couldn’t find it anywhere…but now it is back. I celebrated that Cover Girl has started making it again.

Fitting into smaller jeans. I discovered that I can fit into some jeans that I thought were too small. That’s always something I’ll celebrate. I also celebrated that I hadn’t put them in the giveaway pile last fall.

New blade for old paper cutter. I was thrilled to find a new blade for my 20-year-old rotary paper cutter. When I couldn’t find the replacements in a local store and the new cutters did not look at all like mine, I thought I was going to have to buy a new one….but Amazon had the size I needed.

Roman Art and Archaeology course from University of Arizona. I’m not taking as many course from Coursera as I’ve gotten busy with other things…the few I’ve taken recently have been fabulous. I celebrate the availability of the course as the perfect time (the lull before the ramp up of spring field trips) and the well done videos and other references.

Boxes of old documents shredded. We’ve cleaned out some old boxes full of paper (spring cleaning!) and took 2 to be shredded at a local shredding event. I celebrated getting all that old paper with account numbers and social security numbers securely recycled.

Gleanings of the Week Ending April 22, 2017

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Beautiful Easter Eggs Hand-painted with Colorful Folk Art Illustrations – Yes – it’s past Easter…but I was a little late seeing this post. Art on an egg shape!

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #83 and Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #84 – So many gorgeous bird pictures! My favorite in the first section is the male Ruddy Duck; the blue bill is always a surprise! My favorite in the second set is the female Great Horned Owl…sun through the wing and tail feathers.

Maps Show a Dramatic Rise in Health Insurance Coverage Under ACA – I was interested in seeing the trend…and wondered if the decline in uninsured people will correlate to better health outcomes.

Many US Freshwater Lakes could surpass ‘safe’ chloride levels within 50 years – Not good. Road salt is evidently a significant contributor.

Is the world running out of fresh water? – The world’s major aquifers are being drained. Mexico City – built on ancient lake beds, is now sinking in some areas at a rate of 9 inches per year! Global water demand is projected to increase by 55% between 2000 and 2050. So the answer to the question is ‘yes’ --- unless we change the way we currently use water.

Vitamin B diminishes effects of air pollution induced cardio-vascular disease – Interesting study…not actionable yet…but I hope they continue the research.

A Vegan Protein Sources Chart – A good comparison of different kinds of vegetable proteins.

Maryland Food System Map: Version 2.0 has arrived – Read about how the map has been improved…then take a look at the interactive map here. I wondered if other states were doing similar type maps.

Tunable electric eyeglasses bend to the will of the wearer – I hope this technology matures into something looks better. I would much prefer these to the types of static glasses available today.

7 cool facts about Water Striders – I frequently see water striders when I’m hiking with elementary students on field trips. This article has some great pictures…and more that I had known about them previously.