Emerging Monarch

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I went out each morning after finding the Monarch butterfly chrysalis on the day lily leaf; on the second morning that the chrysalis had turned from pale green to clear – the indication that the butterfly was almost ready to emerge. Since I hadn’t seen any Monarchs in our yard this year…I decided to attempt capture the emerging butterfly with my camera.

I came back 30 minutes later…thought perhaps the chrysalis wall was weakening…that some parts in the middle were beginning to split. I had changed to my bridge camera (Canon Powershot SX70 HS), mounted it on a monopod, and was sitting on a comfortable stool.

30 minutes later it looked like the top – above the horizontal row of gold dots - was beginning to split.

Another 30 minutes and I was out again – zooming in with the camera and thinking, at first, that nothing much had changed. But then I noticed some action on the other side of the chrysalis.

I changed to video since I knew the emergence would happen very quickly. It is not a great video (I need practice with video as much as I do with macro photography!) but I learned a lot from watching it later. The chrysalis did crack open but not exactly in the way I anticipated. What I was seeing at the top of the chrysalis was the abdomen of the insect which was huge! It must contain the fluid that is needed to expand the wings. The papillae on either side of the proboscis moved a lot at the beginning and I wondered if they were somehow involved in the fluid distribution or simply cleaning up the area around the face. See the video here.

After the video of the main event – I went in to let my husband know it had occurred and came back out to finish the event with some photes. Over the next 30 minutes the butterfly’s wings continued to unfurl and expand. At some point the butterfly ejected the extra fluid in its abdomen.

30 minutes later the butterfly finally opened its wings. Note that the abdomen is smaller than when it first emerged and it is probably a female.

What a great way to start the day!

Day Lily Leaves

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In the later part of summer, I always cut the day lily leaves when they start to turn yellow so that they come back with new growth that is fresh and green until the frost. It probably reduces the amount of bulb growth underground but the beds are so dense in the beds that it doesn’t matter. Last year it happened in early August. This year the leaves stayed green longer. Maybe we got more rain or maybe the temperatures were better for the leaves to continue growing – or maybe their season is longer now due to climate change. The two areas we have day lilies are in the front flower beds and around the base of our oak tree.

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And every year, one of the tools I use is the old hedge trimmers I have from my grandfather.

He gave them to me when I bought my first house in the mid ‘70s; the handles were already mended. They must be over 50 years old and maybe much older! They are a wonderful reminder of him. I like using them more than the electric hedge trimmers because of the good memories that crowd into my mind when I pick them up (and they don’t bother my hands as much as the vibrations from the electric trimmers do). I also think how much things have changed since he was born in 1901…the way we now live on the Earth with a lot more people and technology that is damaging the planet…how we have to make some difficult changes to enable ourselves and future generations the quality of life on Earth that recent past generations experienced.

The area around the base of the oak was trimmed all the way around. When the new leaves come in they will cover over the mess. I noticed one side was lower than the other and realized the deer must have been nibbling there. The bed near the house was another story. I got about half done – avoiding cutting any of the black eyed susans – when I stopped because of a small discovery.

Do you see the Monarch chrysalis on the leaf (near the center of the image)? I was surprised to see it since I hadn’t seen any Monarch butterflies or caterpillars this year in our neighborhood. I’m going to take a daily picture of it until the butterfly emerges.

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Tomorrow’s post will include a few macro pictures of the chrysalis so stay tuned!

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 21, 2021

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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.

Nine things you should know about sea horses – The males give birth! Like many creatures right now – they are in trouble from climate change (and overfishing in some parts of the world). Not long ago – I learned that there is a species of seahorse native to the Chesapeake Bay. They live in sea grasses and estuaries…habitats that are in trouble.

Electric cars and batteries: how will the world produce enough? – One of the important steps that needs to ramp up as batteries (and solar cells) reach end of life – is recycling. We need to think about closed loops for the resources required to manufacture future renewables!

New analysis of landmark scurvy study leads to update on vitamin C needs – An example of the research behind how those ‘daily requirements’ of vitamins and minerals were developed. I wonder if more of the values need to go through a validation…how many would change just as the vitamin C requirement did.

Top 10 Grassland Species Across the Globe – The ones we have in the US are Long-billed Curlew, Black-footed Ferret, Pronghorn, Swift Fox, and American Bison.

The multi-billion dollar giants that are melting away – Glaciers. When they are gone…many parts of the world will be drier places. This article is primarily about central Asia…but the situation in South America is similar.

Loss of biodiversity in streams threatens vital biological process – Fungi and bacteria can’t do the decomposition job alone…the aquatic insects (often larvae) and crustaceans are needed too. And the populations and diversity of those organisms in our streams is declining.

Top 25 birds of the week: plumage! – Bird photographs…always colorful and interesting.

Gender revolutions in who holds the purse strings – The study was done in Britain…I wonder if similar (or different) changes are happening elsewhere in the world.

‘Polluter pays’ policy could speed up emission reductions and removal of atmospheric CO2 – A change that could speed up the transition we need to make…if we can somehow overcome the lobbying for the status quo trajectory.

Photography In The National Parks: Fun Fact Photography – This is a kind of photography you can do in lots of places. A little curiosity and a camera…some web searches…a neat cycle of learning/art that can turn again and again.

Henriette Willebeek LeMair

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This week I am highlighting 4 Internet Archive books published between 1912 and 1917 that include Henriette Willebeek LeMair’s illustrations of children. They are an idealized version of childhood during that time in Holland. I was interested in the activities depicted!

Grannie’s Little Rhyme Book (1914) is a collection of old nursery rhymes that she illustrated.

The Children’s Corner (1915) was written by R.H. Elkin. Ordinary things like a child getting a haircut and dolls in timeout show up in the text and illustrations!

Old Dutch Nursery Rhymes (1917) has tunes compiled by J. Joentgen…with the English added by R.H. Elkins. The illustrations I chose for my samples are for tunes “The Ducks” and “The stork has brough a baby brother”!

Little Songs of Long Ago (1912) has tunes compiled by Alfred Moffat. The tunes illustrated by the samples below are “Dame get up and bake your pies” and “See-saw, Marjorie Daw.”

Life has changed in many ways for children in the past 100+ years….but the spirit of children that comes through in the illustration is still easy to find today. What will it be like for children 100 years from now? It is something I am thinking about a lot recently….and how I can turn my concern about the changes happening in the Earth’s climate into action.

Precursors to Fall

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It is not fall yet but we already have a few leaves falling; the majority are oak or sycamore. There are always the precursors to the big fall that happens in a few months…usually reaching a crescendo in October in our part of Maryland.

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There is always one corner of our deck where the leaves accumulate. The wind sweeps them into the corner and the only way they leave is with some effort on our part with a broom or rake. Right now - they are mostly sycamore leaves but later the tulip poplar leaves will be there too.

The sycamore leaves are sometimes bigger than dinner plates this time of year. The big ones have been growing all summer. There are still smaller, younger ones on the tree….and sometimes they fall off while they are still green. I noticed an odd leaf that was very dark around the edges…not the normal look to a sycamore leaf on the ground and I’m not sure what caused it.

The oak leaves are changing color on the tree – looking glorious in morning light.

There are some unusual looks for the oak leaves too – green at the stem area then brown in the upper part of the leaf or green in the center and brown around the edges. These leaves might indicate the tree is somehow challenged – hopefully something it will recover from.

I am trying to separate what is normal for our trees and what I might notice that is an indication of climate change. One thing I am starting to monitor is when the big last big swirl of leaves happens from the tulip poplar; in fall of 1994 (the year we moved into this house), it occurred on Halloween. I wonder when it will be this year.

Black Squirrel

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We have a black squirrel visiting our deck occasionally. The zoomed images show that the undercoat fur in not black and the claws are more visible because of the contrast with the coat color. Other than the darker coat, it seems the same as the other squirrels; it doesn’t get seed directly from the feeder either. I’m pretty sure it is in our neighborhood all the time…that our deck/feeder/bird bath are on the edge of its normal territory so we don’t see it every day.

The acorns are not having a big year – so the squirrels may be keener to get the seeds this year. The last few years have been slim for acorns from our oak. I’m not sure if it’s just the normal fluctuation between mast (big acorn) years, if our oak is infected with something that reduces its acorn production, or if the weather in the spring caused a problem. I am pretty sure it was some cold weather in the spring of 2020 but not sure about this year.

Our oak (and the others in our neighborhood) are more important to the long-term health of the squirrels (and other wildlife in our neighborhood – including birds and insects) than our feeder. In an ecosystem being challenged more and more by climate change – we are becoming more aware of how our actions are important to sustaining what is here.

Changing Food Habits

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It’s hard to change the foods we eat. Recently several articles about ultraprocessed food and the impact of our food choices on the environment have prompted me to evaluate what it eat…and decide on some changes I want to make. It’s going to be hard…many of the foods I am focused on are well-entrenched habits. This is only the beginning.

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Diet Pepsi (and other soft drinks). They are not food – just liquid that has 0 nutritional value and may have negative impacts on health (jitters and hydration skew caused by caffeine, increasing craving for sugar). But I’ve been buying and drinking them for a very long time; they are a habit that is hard to change. Earlier this year, I changed from plastic bottles to aluminum cans when it became obvious that plastic bottles were not being recycled properly (whereas aluminum cans were)…but that is not enough. When scrutinized objectively – they are not worth anything positive…so why buy them at all.

Peppermint candy. Aargh! These come in big bins…I buy them when I travel then continue eating them after I get home. The lure of sugar and peppermint. I will stop buying them to avoid the temptation. Maybe I should start chewing fresh mint leaves from the garden to get the flavor but not the refined sugar!

Soy or Almond Milk. I’ve been drinking the non-dairy milk – to get calcium via my diet without the challenge of lactose intolerance. The change I am contemplating now is to transition to lactose free milk as a less processed alternative and get more protein too (9 grams vs 6 grams for soy milk).  Also - all the non-dairy milks have supplemental calcium so they are almost like taking the supplement which is an ultimate in ultraprocessed ‘nutrition’!

Turkey sausage. Highly processed but a better choice than pork sausage in terms of calories from fat and also less environmental impact (poultry vs swine). It does have a lot of sodium. I won’t eat it more than once a week or so…but is a quick way to add protein to a meal.

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Dark chocolate. Ultraprocessed…but I am choosing to still have it for my 1st breakfast (two squares of the Lindt 70% is my favorite). I like the kickstart it gives my day…enough calories to keep me going before I am ready to prepare my 2nd breakfast at mid-morning. But I am not going to eat more than that small amount very often.

Overall – I am pleased that I have so many fresh vegetables (and some fruits) in my diet. I enjoy the farmers market and the produce section….and finding new ways to prepare salads, smoothies, soups, stir fries – skewing toward raw and whole!  I haven’t become a vegetarian – yet – but I am eating less meat that I was 5 years ago (almost no pork and less beef)…ramping up nuts.

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 14, 2021

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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 your phone battery creates striking alien landscapes – Lithium….needed for batteries that are needed for so many things (not just phone batteries).

Why do house finches love your hanging plants? – These birds are frequent visitors to our feeder. Based on the crowd we are seeing now – they’ve had a very successful breeding season…lots of young birds.

Ultraprocessed foods now comprise 2/3 of calories in children and teen diets – This article prompted me to look at what ultraprocessed foods I am eating…and making some changes. I am keeping the 1st breakfast that includes 90 calories of dark chocolate…but all the other ultraprocessed foods are going to become occasional or rare in my diet.

Tracking the Restoration of the River of Grass – An interview with Eric Eikenberg, President of the Everglades Foundation. There is a lot of work coming to fruition this decade in restoration of the Everglades…some positive news from Florida. It was an encouraging article but after reading the whole thing, it still seems to me that climate change will be a continuing disaster for Florida.

Red Tide Rages Along Florida’s Gulf Coast – On a more pessimistic note about the environment in Florida right now…

Top 25 birds of the week: August 2021 – Birds….so many different kinds to see.

Crawling with crickets: the insect swarm in the western US – Mormon Crickets (really katydids) have population crescendos in 3 of every 10 years in the west. The occurrences are patchy but damaging for some crops.

Music in the American Wild – I watched the Missouri Music at 200 webinar this week and am now looking at more of the concert videos from the ensemble. I’ll post the “Missouri Music at 200” webinar video address (when it is available on YouTube). Of course – live performances would be even better. I enjoyed the Hawaii 2020 project videos already…lots of good views of the island (particularly birds and volcanos!).

The ancient Persian way to keep cool – We’ve had quite a few heat advisory days recently…will probably have an increasing number every summer. The world will need to implement the most efficient strategies available to keep people cool.

Camera Trapping As Mainstream Nature Activity – Little cameras in the wild…they are probably less obtrusive than a human being in the place all the time…but not totally benign in every place.

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 7, 2021

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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.

A roadrunner taking a dust bath wins the 2021 Audubon photography awards – This gleaning list is big on bird photos! This is the first one.

Top 25 birds of the week: Conservation – This is the second. These posts encourage me to get outdoors in areas near my home to photograph birds!

How giraffes deal with sky-high blood pressure – Multiple differences between giraffes and humans when it comes to blood pressure!

Permafrost Thaw in Siberia Creates a Ticking ‘Methane Bomb’ of Greenhouse Gases – The article is about what happened in summer 2020…made me wonder about what is happening this summer in Siberia. This along with the fires that seem to be worse each season are signs that climate change is happening faster than anticipated…that the models might be optimistic rather than realistic.

Plastic, the Trojan Horse – A study that found plastic accumulation in foods may be underestimated. Not good.

Smoke Across North America – Lots of fires this summer. My husband told me that the local astronomy club has cancelled several nights they’d planned for observing because no stars were visible through the haze here in Maryland.

How the sun affects our skin – An infographic about vitamin D, sunburn and skin cancer.

This catfish doesn’t just move on land, it reffles – Plecos – from the aquarium trade – are now invasive in warmer waters in the US. They do have an interesting way of moving on land (videos of their reffle)…..this means if found/caught they shouldn’t be left on the bank to die (since they will easily move back to the nearest water). The article didn’t say what to do with them (presumable kill them).

Drought, Heat Taking a Toll on National Parks in Southwest – I’ve enjoyed so many of the parks mentioned in this article – Saguaro, Grand Canyon, White Sands, Petrified Forest. It has always been dry there…but now it is getting drier and hotter.

Take a Virtual Tour of Artworks Inspired by Efforts to Preserve Plant Biodiversity – A virtual site of an exhibit not at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery in Exeter, England. Watch the 5 minute video about the site….then enjoy the exhibit here.

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 31, 2021

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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.

Climate Change Responsible for Recent Decline of Eastern Monarch Butterflies – I know that the milkweed in my Maryland yard is not as healthy looking and I don’t see as many butterflies as I did in the 1990s…it’s a sad trend.

Top 25 birds of the week: July 2021 and Perching – A special treat – two collections of bird photographs in this gleanings post!

The parenting penalties faced by scientist mothers – There are no single or quick ‘fixes’ – moving forward requires thoughtful approaches. The status quo is not acceptable or sustainable!

True Grit: Adventures in Red-Cockaded Woodpecker Research – My husband and I saw red-cockaded woodpeckers in Florida during a birding festival field trip…so I tend to look at articles that appear in my news feed about them.

Florida Breaks Annual Manatee Death Record In First 6 Months Of 2021 – Florida seems to be a less appealing place to visit these days. Manatees were an animal my husband and I always wanted to see there and now they are starving to death because the seagrass (their food) is dead or dying in polluted waters. Other animals are probably impacted as well.

Chaco Culture National Historical Park: Hard To Reach, Filled With The Unexpected – I’ve only been to Chaco Canyon once….in the spring when it wasn’t overly hot. There were not many people on the windy, cool day we were there. The sounds of the place increased the sense of history in the ruins.

Air pollution during pregnancy may affect growth of newborn babies – There are so many aspects of the human impact on our environment that overwhelm what our bodies can handle…we should probably assume that there will be health impacts – particularly noticeable in the very young and the very old.

Burrowing Owls Face an Uncertain Future – They need holes from small colonial mammals….areas that are not plowed.

U.S. Power Sector Sees Biggest One-Year Drop in Emissions in More Than Two Decades – Picking up the pace as more renewables come online.

‘Inflammation clock’ can reveal body’s biological age – Maybe this turns out to be a good diagnostic to prompt interventions to extend healthy lifespan (via treatments on specific types of inflammation).

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 24, 2021

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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.

Night Sky Celebrations Across the National Park System – We’re not doing this kind of traveling this summer….but maybe we’ll do several of these ‘star parties’ in summer 2022.

Tooth loss associated with increased cognitive impairment – Another reason to not neglect going to the dentist! It’s not just about preserving cognitive impairment either….quality of life is a big motivation as well.

Top 25 birds of the week: Seabirds – From around the world…a few I’ve seen in North America.

Mucus and mucins may become the medicine of the future – There is still a lot to learn about how this might work….but it appears that this is an opportunity to treat disease by enhancing the mechanisms already used by the body. Maybe one of the first uses will be for eye drops to treat eye infections rather than the antibiotics used today.

Protect Pollinators – reform pesticide regulations – Hopefully the action requested by these scientist from around the world will happen…our ecosystems are having enough challenge dealing with climate change. Many pollinator species won’t survive the continued threat of status quo pesticide use.

Keeping your composure: Creative Ways to Compose Your Photographs (part 1, part 2, part 3) – Always good to browse through these kinds of tutorials…pick up some new ideas, celebrate the things you are already doing.

What to do with food waste? – It doesn’t appear than there is any one strategy that will work broadly. I’m glad I have already dramatically reduced food waste and then have a large enough yard to have a compost bin.

Waterfalls of North Carolina – A few years ago, my husband and I made a waterfall themed trip to New York. It seems that North Carolina would be another state that has a lot of opportunities for waterfall photography. Maybe next spring?

Creativity Myths – A recent ‘letter’ on The Painter’s Keys website.  I enjoy the twice-weekly blurbs that appear in my inbox (free subscription) and often follow the ‘click here to read more’ link.

Exposure to light with less blue before sleep is better for energy metabolism – I already change the color balance on my PC screens to ‘nightlight’ between sundown and sunrise. Maybe we will do more eventually based on this and subsequent research. It is probably true that no one should be watching a television screen just before going to bed!

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 17, 2021

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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.

The 'Zoom Boom' Can't Save the Midwest – People are leaving dense, high-cost urban metro areas…but very few of them are going to the heartland.  Maybe some of the areas will benefit from migration because of climate change. Or maybe the Midwest should simply focus on investments to help their economies and create places people want to live….do the groundwork to encourage people to move to the region.

Poison Mushrooms: How to Tell – From the Natural History Society of Maryland…good pictures.

The Avenues of America – An overview picture of Washington DC taken from the International Space Station.

The Invasion Of The National Park System – Quagga mussels, Burmese pythons, feral swine, household pets gone wild, tamarisk trees….and those are just the ones pictured!

Incredible Footage of Iceland’s Fagradalsfjall Volcano – And there are people in many of the pictures to provide scale!

Major advance in fabrication of low-cost solar cells also locks up greenhouse gases – There are so many articles about technologies that sound promising toward creating faster pathways away from fossil fuels….hope a lot of them move forward.

Elephant Trunks Can Suck Water at 330 Miles Per Hour – Wow

Pyramid made of dirt is world’s oldest known war memorial – Located in Syria…and at least 30 people – male and presumed to be warriors – buried in horizontal steps.

COVID-19 pandemic has been linked with six unhealthy eating behaviors -- ScienceDaily – Eating disorders are one of the deadliest psychiatric health concerns and 6 of them have a correlation to the pandemic: mindless eating and snacking, increased food consumption, generalized decrease in appetite or dietary intake, eating to cope, pandemic related reductions in dietary intake, and re-emergence or marked increase in eating disorders.

How flooded coal mines could heat homes – Evidently the water in the mines could be tapped as a source of geothermal heating/cooling!

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 10, 2021

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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.

Fibromyalgia likely the result of autoimmune problems – Maybe this change in thinking (neurologic to immune system) will improve diagnosis and management of the disease.

How freezing changed the green pea – A little food history

Massive Antarctic Lake Vanishes in Just Three Days – A lot can be learned with observations from space…and once we see something interesting like this there is historical imagery that can provide a view from past years too.

Tuberculosis: The Forgotten Pandemic – The search for a better vaccine for TB….some history of the past 100 years of TB around the world.

Top 25 birds of the week: Bird Interactions! – Birds with others…of their own species and sometimes another bird species.

The Finalists of the Bird Photographer of the Year 2021 Are Announced – Just found this post that came out back in April…enjoy a double dose of bird photos in this gleanings list.

Photos of the Week – June 17, 2021 – Spider photos from The Prairie Ecologist

Fire Destroyed 10 Percent of World’s Giant Sequoias Last Year—Can They Survive Climate Change? – Very sad….and this year there could be more fires.

6 Surprising Tales of Predatory Birds – The 6 birds featured are: pelicans, great blue herons, turkeys, crows, kelp gulls, and vampire finches.

Coelacanths may live nearly a century, five times longer than researchers expected – An ancient form of fish that evidently lives a long time, reaches maturity at about 55 years old and gestates offspring for 5 years. This slow life history has implications for conservation of the fish. I also wondered how many other species we know only from fossils had slow life histories compared to organism we observe today.

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 3, 2021

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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 birds of the week – June 2021! – The first picture startled me – a bird with a turquoise beak!

Beach Safety Tips: How To Avoid Being Bitten or Stung This Summer – I’m don’t go to the beach frequently…and then am usually more interested in shells and ghost crabs than being in the water! Still – the safety tips were interesting.

Concrete: The material that defines our age – With the collapse of the reinforced concrete building in Florida….this story seemed particularly timely.

Edible Cholera vaccine made of powdered rice proves safe in phase 1 human trials, study suggests – Reminded me of distribution ease of the polio vaccine sugar cubes back in the 1960s. In this case the special rice is powdered and sealed in aluminum packets that are then mixed with 1/3 cup liquid and drunk. Hopefully, the subsequent phases of the trials will be successful…it could save a lot of lives.

Yellowstone and Warming: An Iconic Park Faces Startling Changes – A few degrees makes a big difference….in National Parks too.

Scientists Find Toxic ‘Forever Chemicals’ in More Than 100 Popular Makeup Products – I hope manufacturers of makeup will check their ingredients more carefully….make their products PFAS-free.

Canada is right to classify single-use plastics as toxic – I hope the US takes similar action. Industry should get on board with this idea and be innovative rather than taking legal action.  There is no ‘responsible plastic use’ for single use plastic. We consumers are too accepting that single use plastics are inevitable. It’s pretty easy for us to avoid singe use plastic bags, straws, stirring sticks, six-pack rings, plasticware….the one that is challenging for me is the hard-to-recycle food containers because of the lack of options in grocery stores and restaurant takeout.

Move Over Bald Eagle: Meet 12 of the World’s Coolest National Birds – Some are flashy…some are majestic….a little history of how they were selected aa representatives for their country.

Losing Ladybugs – Native and non-native ladybugs….you are more likely to see the non-natives now.

Florida’s Manatees Are Dying at an Alarming Rate – Starving because water pollution (nutrient runoff causing algal blooms) smothers seagrass. More than 10% of the manatee population of Florida has died so far in 2021. Very sad for other aquatic species that need the same habitat … and people too.

Ten Little Celebrations – June 2021

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After being away from home in May…being in Maryland again rippled with little celebrations associated with home. Here are my top 10 little celebrations from June 2021:

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Scenic drive from Lexington KY to home. Light traffic, good highway, beautiful scenery….I took a picture to celebrate being back in Maryland.

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Farmers Market. I’ve been going every week and it’s a celebration every time. The piles of produce fresh from the local farms (and artisan bread) make it a happy errand…and then I enjoy the bounty in meals all during the week. It’s a great substitute for belonging to a CSA (which is not practical for me this year because of my traveling).

A good watermelon. There was a sign in the produce section of Wegmans for seeded watermelons. I always remember them from my childhood….sweeter than the ones without seeds that we find more frequently in stores today. I bought one – hoping it would live up my expectations. And it did. Celebrating a watermelon as good as I remembered!

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Yard work. An hour of work (several of them on mornings when it is still cool enough to be pleasant)…2 wheelbarrow loads to the brush pile or compost bin….celebrating a neater yard and satisfaction of encouraging native species.

Apple crisp. While I was away, my husband did curbside pickup for his groceries. He somehow got a huge bag of apples. Some of the excess apples made a great apple crisp…celebrating bounty (and not wasting food).

Howard County Conservancy Mt Pleasant. Every time I hike there, there is something new to celebrate – most recently dragonflies and a black-crowned night heron.

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Maryland sunrise and partial solar eclipse. Celebrating being in the right place at the right time to see it.

New crowns. I had anticipated that getting 3 new crowns was going to be uncomfortable but was pleasantly surprised that my expectation was way over the top; there was almost no discomfort during the drilling or sensitive areas afterward…. celebrated that it happened that way.

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New computer glasses. Hurray for seeing better…and the red frames.

The Institutions of Extraterrestrial Liberty talks. There were 4 days of webinars….and I found many of them very thought provoking. I celebrated the content…and that they were made available by the sponsors of the virtual conference. (Day 1: https://tinyurl.com/4t7zjv72 Day 2: https://tinyurl.com/2f9n4b72 Day 3: https://tinyurl.com/48rbba2k Day 4: https://tinyurl.com/5bbey7pr)

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 26, 2021

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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 Birds of the week: Habitats! – Birds are everywhere (at least now/recent past). The decline in insect populations could make it problematic for many species to survive.

The Institutions of Extraterrestrial Liberty (Day 1: https://tinyurl.com/4t7zjv72 Day 2: https://tinyurl.com/2f9n4b72 Day 3: https://tinyurl.com/48rbba2k Day 4: https://tinyurl.com/5bbey7pr) – A series of webinars chaired by Charles Cockell (I enjoyed his astrobiology course on Coursera back in 2015 and his “Life in the Universe Pandemic Series’ back in Spring 2020). The subject in these webinars is freedom beyond Earth with talks on everything from liberty in Martian settlements to war in space. This is not about the search for life beyond Earth, but it is about the human future beyond Earth and how human societies might evolve over time. The schedule for each of the days is in the comments section so it is easy to select segments easily.

Gigantic flying pterosaurs had spoked vertebrae to support their 'ridiculously long' necks -- ScienceDaily – Their necks were longer than a giraffe’s…and the vertebrae had internal structure not seen in any other animal. The discovery was made with a CT scan and petrographic sections through the bone.  

Linking Birds, Farmer Attitudes and Conservation – The approach is not as straightforward as it might seem…there are nuances and feedback loops that need to be considered to get a positive result.

A breathtaking treasure reveals the power of the woman buried with it : Research Highlights – Early Bronze Age southeastern Spain…heavy silver diadem, silver ornaments…pots with intricate silver plating and daggers with silver-plated handles.

Challenging Conservation Not to Leave Women Behind – An example from the Solomon Islands….globally relevant.

100-Year-Old Lungs Yield Genetic Samples of 1918 Flu Viruses | The Scientist Magazine®- Lungs of 2 soldiers and a civilian preserved in formalin….from the first wave of the 1918 flu…when it was not as deadly as the later waves.

Why Peru is reviving a pre-Incan technology for water - BBC Future – One of the world’s first efforts to integrate nature into water management on a national scale. Projects include protecting high altitude cushion bogs and shoring up ancient water storage (routing water in the wet season to natural infiltration basins). These are ‘slow water’ solutions…mitigations that should be studied for other areas that are drying out as the climate changes.

An Estimated 50 Billion Birds Populate Earth, but Four Species Reign Supreme | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – And the 4 species are: house sparrow, European starling, ring-billed gull, and barn swallow.

How humanity has changed the food it eats - BBC Future – Perspectives on the processing of food through our history (and pre-history)…and where we are now. It is still possible to make choices that are healthy for us…but a lot of ultra-processed ‘foods’ readily available that are not.  

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 18, 2021

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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 birds of the week: Terrestrial Birds – Several ancestors of chickens in this group!

3D-printed material to replace ivory -- ScienceDaily – ‘Digory’ made of resin and calcium phosphate particles….can be used to restore old ivory artifacts.

Managing Colorado River risk | Science – The reduction of water in the Colorado River basin over time…the challenge of managing that reduction for 40 million people that depend on the water source.

Death metal: Evidence for the impact of lead poisoning on childhood health within the Roman Empire – A study of 173 skeletons from 5 sites dated AD 1st-4th centuries.

First State National Historical Park Gains 254 Acres – This could be a good day trip for my husband and I…getting there early enough in the morning for it to not be cool enough for a good hike.

Incredible Close-Up Portraits of Solitary Bees Highlight Their Character – Wow! A great project done during COVID-19 quarantine!

Human Teeth Hold the Secrets of Ancient Plagues - The Atlantic – Finding ancient pathogens in old bone….an interview with Johannes Krause, director of the archaeogenetics department at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Teeth are like a time capsule: bits of blood protected by the enamel.

Cool and COVID-safe: How radiant cooling could keep our cities comfortable and healthy -- ScienceDaily – Looking for ways to stay cool at lower energy costs than traditional HVAC systems.

Tiffany Stained Glass at Art Institute of Chicago | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – A church window transitioned to a museum and restored…now on display.

Mysterious Ailment Blinding and Killing Birds in Washington, D.C. Area – Glad we’ve had our feeder and bird baths put away for the past 6 weeks or so since we are in the process of getting our deck worked on. Fledglings of blue jays and grackles seem to be the birds impacted the most.

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 12, 2021

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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.

Water treatment: Removing hormones with sunlight -- ScienceDaily – Research to find and remove micropollutants. Micropollutants have become more concerning over the past few years as research has shown the potential for health impacts.

Which processed foods are better than natural? - BBC Future – Processed foods are not all unhealthy. Some are better than fresh (for example, canned tomatoes, pasteurized milk). But watch out for ultra-processed foods – ones derived from foods and additives; they can alter gut bacteria, cause inflammation….and many people have a tendence to overeat ultra-processed food.

Top 25 birds of the week: endemic birds – Birds found only in a small area of the world…and no where else. My favorite is the Bee Hummingbird – smallest hummingbird in the world and only found in the Cuban archipelago.

Dietary cocoa improves health of obese mice; likely has implications for humans -- ScienceDaily – Hmmm…maybe my 2 squares of dark chocolate for 1st breakfast is not a bad thing at all…even though I am not obese.

Chipmunk Quest – We have had chipmunks around our house periodically. They are fun to watch. They seem to taunt our cat through the window!

Why Bald Eagle Populations Soared in the Last Decade | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – A good news story of species recovery.

Europe’s Drive to Slash Plastic Waste Moves into High Gear – Hope similar efforts are made in the US. As an individual, it is hard to avoid single-use plastic although I have made an effort to avoid plastic shopping bags and buy products in paper/metal rather than plastic when that is an alternative.

Move Over, Cicadas: 5 Other Great North American Wildlife Hatchings (and Emergences) – The Brood X cicada emergence is beginning to wane in our area….it was interesting to think about other emergence type events. Maybe one of the events mentioned in this article will motivate a road trip in the next year or so.

Tropical species are moving northward in U.S. as winters warm: Insects, reptiles, fish and plants migrating north as winter freezes in South become less frequent -- ScienceDaily – Shifts already observable…others projected.

Report exposes power gap at US universities – Only one in ten top-earning faculty members is a woman.

Springfield, Missouri Farmers Market

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My daughter took me to the Springfield, Missouri farmers market two times. I was overwhelmed with the place (and the household moving activities we were embroiled in) during the first visit…didn’t buy anything! The market is held under a covered pavilion with food trucks and a few vendors extending beyond the covered area. And it has more vendors than just farmers! The second visit was easier for me because we were done with the hardest parts of the moving and the market was more familiar.

I bought a large bulb of fennel with feathery top and a large mug for next winter’s hot tea. When we returned to the new house, my son-in-law promptly put the bulb in water to keep it fresh longer but we both started eating fennel with almost every meal (except breakfast).

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I noticed some murals on the buildings around the pavilion and took some pictures with my phone. There are probably more…I’ll look around more next time I visit later this summer.

The experience prompted me to realize that I should frequent the farmers market back home in Maryland…as a substitute for my not participating in the CSA this season (too much anticipated time away from Maryland to handle a weekly share).

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 5, 2021

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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.

Infographic: Animals of Different Species Hybridize | The Scientist Magazine® - Hybrids that fill a new environmental niche.

Britain’s Medieval Population Suffered From Cancer - Archaeology Magazine and Cancer rates in medieval Britain were around ten times higher than previously thought, study suggests | University of Cambridge – The same story from two sources. Cancer rates prior to the modern tumor-inducing chemicals from industry and tobacco were higher than previously thought.

Cities Have Distinct Microbial Signatures: Study | The Scientist Magazine® - Samples collected between 2015 and 2017 in transit stations in major cities. More than 4,000 known species…and 14,000 species that had DNA sequences not found in any database!

Top 25 birds of the week: Resident Birds! - Wild Bird Revolution and Top 25 birds of the week: Bird Biodiversity! - Wild Bird Revolution – So many bird pictures! I’m doing a little catching up this week.

The Blooming Mid-Atlantic – Near where I live…places I have been for vacation/birding.

Photography In The National Parks: Seeing The Forest For The Trees – A little lesson in photographing forests and trees and leaves from Rebecca Lawson

Greenland glacial meltwaters rich in mercury -- ScienceDaily – The study looked at nutrients in glacier melt…not expecting to find the high level of mercury. Now there are lots of questions about the potential impact on fishing – Greenland’s primary industry.

The nature reserve with a 500-year plan - BBC Future – Zealandia, an ecosanctuary in Wellington, New Zealand enclosed by a 5.3-mile predatory exclusion fence.

Arizona’s Meteor Crater – Another place I’ve visited… as seen by an instrument on Landsat 8.

Cicadas Fall Prey to a Psychedelic-Producing Fungus That Makes Their Butts Fall Off | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – I think I saw one with a white butt on my first walk around my yard!