Gleanings of the Week Ending October 31, 2020

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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.

What’s That Cloud? Your Guide to Cloudspotting – A little tutorial. Maybe a prompt to do some cloud photography too.

This white paint keeps surfaces cooler than surroundings, even under direct sunlight -- ScienceDaily – I remember being at White Sands National Park on a hot day and walking on the sand barefoot (i.e. the sand was not hot!). Hopefully the architectural norms will begin to shift toward white roofs and then durable paints/shingles will be readily available to make it affordable. The heat islands of cities would be reduced…which could be helpful now and an increasing benefit as climate change continues.

Google Maps Gets More Electric-Car Friendly – Android Auto (not the phone app) adding features.

Top 25 birds of the week: Land-birds - Wild Bird Revolution – Enjoy bird images!

NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft successfully touches asteroid -- ScienceDaily – We went down to Florida for the launch back in 2016 so I try to at least scan articles with updates. The sample is now safely stored away and will be heading back to Earth…arriving in 2023.

Why older people are harder to vaccinate - BBC Future – What vaccines can do…what they might not do. For example – did you know that the flu vaccine reduces disease but does not do much to reduce transmission because a vaccinated person can still shed virus particles?

Black Witch Moths: A Night-Time Trick or Treat – Because it’s Halloween….it will be a very quiet one this year with the regular form of trick-or-treating called off in our area.

The rats evicted from paradise - BBC Future – A positive result for humans correcting a problem we caused….only able to succeed because of the resilience of nature (and because we corrected before it was too late for recovery).

Flowers Are Changing Color in Response to Climate Change | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – Adjusting UV pigmentation to protect themselves (rising temperatures/thinning ozone)…maybe confusing pollinators.

Nature Nerd Trivia: Wild Canids – Dog relatives from around the world.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Firsts for the season at our deck. We saw our first Dark-eye Junco for the season. A small flock has spent the winter in our area – frequently visiting our feeder – for many years. We think they go to the Appalachians/Alleghenies for the rest of the year rather than the far north.

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I finally managed to get a picture of a Red-breasted Nuthatch enjoying the seed spilled under our feeder. There were other times recently that I thought I saw one but was never fast enough with my camera.

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Hawai’i Island Festival of Birds Swag pack arrived. It took more than 10 days for the small envelope to get from Hawai’i to Maryland. I don’t know for sure how long it took because there was no postmark. I will use the field notebook (upper left, a nice fit for one of my photo vest pockets) and the magnet (lower right) is already on our refrigerator to remind us of the virtual festival…and we’ll sign up to go to the festival when it is held ‘in person’!

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Marguerite Henry

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I was browsing through children’s books available on Internet Archive and encountered a familiar name: Marguerite Henry. My family discover her Misty of Chincoteague book back in the 1990s when my daughter was at the perfect age to enjoy the story; during one of our visits to Chincoteague, we purchased a set that included the book and some of the sequels. One that I had not seen before was A Pictorial Life Story of Misty. It can be borrowed for an hour from Internet Archive…and since it is mostly pictures…that’s plenty of time to browse through it.

The author wrote a lot of other books and quite of few of them are available on Internet Archive – mostly for an hour checkout and, if there is another copy available, it will show as available for a 14 day checkout after it has been initially checked out for an hour.

One of my favorites of these ‘other’ books was Brighty of the Grand Canyon.

I also enjoyed Auno and Tauno – a Story of Finland – which was one that was available without checking out. The illustrator was Gladys Rourke Blackwood who, according to Wikipedia, illustrated some other Henry books.

The stories are dated at this point…but I enjoy the historical perspective – directly from the book and thinking about children enjoying the books when they were written and for 20+ years after. Misty of Chincoteague was published in 1947 – and my daughter and I were enjoying it in the 1990s and I assume the book is still stocked in books stores around Chincoteague! It has remained ‘current’ because the Pony Penning depicted in the book still happens annually.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

A wet day. There was a lot of rain from Zeta in Maryland on Thursday. There were flood warnings from 11:30 AM to 5:30 PM; we didn’t get out and our neighborhood had no flooding, so it didn’t impact us directly. And the wind was not bad either. We still have a few leaves on our trees.

Ten Little Celebrations – October 2020

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When I wrote the blog post about October 1990, I realized what a happy month it had been and now looking back at October 2020 and the things I recorded as little celebrations…the same is true. Maybe October is always my favorite month of the fall….lots of things that make me happy in this transition time of the year.

The celebrations that are could happen in any October:

The grand finale of the CSA season. The abundance of the last weeks of veggies from the farm….I have a freezer full to enjoy well into November…plenty of winter squash puree to make Thanksgiving dessert and breads and soups (maybe not all for the same meal). It happens every year….the celebration of the bounty.

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Conwingo outing. We didn’t know about the bald eagles congregating at Conowingo dam 30 years ago, but now that we do…there is almost always a trek to the place every October. Even if it isn’t a great day for lots of eagles (which it wasn’t this year)…we celebrate the field trip. This year it was appreciated even more because field trips have been such a rarity for us this year.



Fall leaves. Yes – cleaning up the leaves and acorns is a fall chore…but it also is a joy: the colors, the textures, the breeze made visible by leaves wafting from the treetops. The trees in our yard and in the forest behind our house fill our views; I’m realizing that I am celebrating the extra time I’ve had this year to observe them. Home has become more special during this pandemic year.

Wild turkey in our back yard. I missed it – but my husband saw it. He said there may have been more than one, but he only saw one clearly. We’d heard that there were wild turkeys in the forest but had never seen any until a few day ago. I am celebrating that they really exist…and hoping they return so I can see them too.

Flowers still available in the cutting garden. I thought the cutting garden might fade before the CSA ended…but it didn’t. I love having cut flowers in my office and on the island in the kitchen. Seeing them is an automatic mood brightener. Now I am beginning to realize that the strawflowers will last long into the winter – dried and arranged on a blue glass plate they remind me of water lily flowers.

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Letting go of more stuff. Cleaning out stuff that has collected in over 25 years we’ve lived in our house is tough. But I managed a big pile that I donated (picked up from our front porch) and am working on another. It feels good to clean out the house…particularly if it is something others could use.

And then there are the celebrations that are unique to 2020:

Cape May Fall Festival (virtual). I celebrated the whole festival of videos but particularly the roving reporters at the morning flight of songbirds. It would be wonderful be there some future year to see it in the field.

Hawai’i Festival of Birds (virtual). When I first discovered that the festival was going virtual, I thought it was a great opportunity because I probably would not make the trek to the Big Island again….but now I’m wavering…leaning toward making the trek for the festival and to see how things have changed since we were there in 2015. Maybe next year…or the year after. It’s an opportunity to celebrate an environment very different than the one where we live.

Telephone conversations with family. I normally take telephone conversations for granted…they happen often enough. During this pandemic year when I am not traveling to visit with my family, phone conversations have increased in importance….worthy of celebration.

Voting. In years past, we voted but it wasn’t something that made it to my little celebrations list and we usually did it on election day. This year we requested a mail-in ballot and returned it to a drop box….and checked the online site to track that it was received and accepted/counted. Voting is a celebration this year because of the challenges the country is facing on many levels….and a heightened awareness on our part of how much it matters.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Old monitor heading off to a new home. I’ve had my old monitor mostly idle for the past year – since I got a new one – and finally found a way to give it a new home. There was an article in the Baltimore Sun about a teacher in our area trying to find monitors for teachers that need a second monitor as they forge ahead teaching virtually. I sent an email letting them know I had one to donate and someone came to pick it up! I’m thrilled to let it go!

Browsing Old Architectural Record Volumes

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Browsing through The Architectural Record volumes from the late 1800s and early 1900s available on Internet Archive, there are some articles that capture my attention – for example, two articles about Frank Lloyd Wright. The first one is in the volume for 1908 which features the Dana House (along with other houses and a building). The architecture still looks ‘modern.’ For some info about the Dana House today: Frank Lloyd Wright Trust and Dana Thomas House Foundation.

The second article was in the January-July 1913 volume – about Wright’s studio-home in Wisconsin. Enjoy the slideshow of the exterior of the place. For info about the place today see the Taliesin page on the Wright in Wisconsin page.

Another series of pictures I noticed were exterior pictures of the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina (starting at page 154) in the 1895-1896 volume as introductory picture series to the article “The works of the late Richard M. Hunt” – the architect of the house. The landscape was ‘new’ around the house when the pictures were taken. For information about Biltmore today, see Biltmore Estate website and the Wikipedia page.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Going for groceries in the foggy dark. It’s that time of year – at 6:15 AM it is dark. Add the fog and the short drive would have been disorienting if the route were unfamiliar. I was worried about not seeing a deer at the edge or in the road before it was too late – fortunately, I made it to the grocery store without incident. I have skewed my grocery shopping time an hour earlier during the pandemic…so I am going to be ‘in the dark’ starting out for groceries for months. It was lighter on the way home, but the fog was still around.

Ballot ‘accepted.’ I checked the website for the status of the ballot I put in the drop box on Oct. 5th and it shows that it is ‘accepted’ – which means that it’s been counted! It’s great to get confirmation that I voted successfully.

Haircut. My last haircut was in January, so it was long overdue. There were a few people allowed into the shop (no waiting area and appointments only), the doors were open (outdoor temperature was pleasant), and everyone wore masks. I chose not to get a shampoo, so my hair was just sprayed to wet it…and then it was cut. My husband got his haircut at the same time. We were done in about 20 minutes. My husband gave a tip that doubled the cost of our haircuts…reasoning that the workers are still trying to bounce back from the shop being closed for 3 months.

Images of Bridges – October 2020

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I gleaned paintings/photographs of bridges from the slideshow collections I enjoyed from Internet Archive back in June….as a themed perspective into 8 artists. Clicking on the artists name will access the slideshow on Internet Archive (i.e. more than just bridges!).

The artists were capturing moments of the world in which they lived. Bridges are part of the architecture they observed. The materials were varied – stone, steel, concrete, wood – depending on the time, place, and function of the bridge. I noticed that the bridges were either empty or painted with people (except for one that includes cattle and a man riding a horse). In one a person is walking in the rocky creek under the bridge.

Enjoy the color and beauty of these bridges!

Gustave Caillebotte (1848 - 1894)

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Hawai’i Island Festival of Birds

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Wow – 5 days of the virtual Hawai’i Island Festival of Birds. Like the other virtual festivals we’ve seen….I want to go to the Hawai’i festival some year…the sooner the better! When we travelled to the big island in 2015, it was before we’d been to any birding festivals and I took only a few (poor) pictures of birds.

When we go back – I’ll be more prepared after having the experience of this virtual festival. My cameras (and photographic skills) are better than in 2015 too.

The sessions were pre-recorded and not as lengthy some of the other festivals. This was the only festival where native names and language (Hawaiian) were an integral part of the festival.

I listened to all the sessions…even the ones that were readings of books for children about Hawaiian birds….and I learned something from them all.

Day 1 was the longest because I also watch the two virtual field trip sessions:

  • An interview with the authors/photographer for the Field Guide to the Birds of Hawai’i…how it was put together and introducing a topic woven throughout the conference - the extinctions of native birds and actions to help the surviving species

  • Natural history and status of Hawaii’s seabirds….the impact of sea level rise on Midway Atoll where 91% of seabirds nest in Hawaii…and translocation projects to higher islands (islands within islands to keep mammalian predators out of nesting areas). Pacific Rim Conservation

  •  A Virtual Tour of Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge…only place in Hawaii where native forest birds are stable and increasing…We’d get a guide or go with a tour group from the festival when we go. Birds are hard to see in the forest!

  • A Virtual Tour of Kaulana Manu Nature Trail … newly opened…off the saddle road on the big island. There is good signage and it’s something we could do on our own. There was a decontamination station for cleaning boots; there is a fungus that causes Rapid Ohi’a Death…a tree that many native birds depend on.

  • The status of eBird, Merlin, and Community Science in Hawaii….I need to remember to load Merlin’s Hawaii pack before we go!

  • Choosing the best binocular for You!...some binoculars have a short enough minimum focus distance that they can be used for butterfly watching; I quickly decided that, for me, I’d rather use my camera’s zoom to get close images of butterflies rather than watching them through binoculars. But – I did hear about Insect Shield Scarves…which might be something to have for warm weather birding!

Day 2:

  • Marvelous Moli…The albatross…The speaker wrote a book – Holy Moli….If we want to see them on nests we’ll have to go to Kauai. Maybe the festival will have a field trip for that.

  • Kolea…Pacific Golden Plover…learned a lot about how tagging has evolved over the years and how sophisticated tagging has shown how long and exact their migration is. The book by the speaker found here.

  • Hula and storytelling….listening and watching…like a meditation

  • Albatross of Kauai, the story of Kaloakulua…a particular Laysan Albratross from 2013/2014 season

Day 3:

  • Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument…a big place…not sure how we would ever be able to visit

  • Garbage guts…a children’s book about plastic garbage in the sea and a Laysan albatross

  • Tracking the endangered ‘Akiapola’au…with transmitters and receivers in the Pu’u maka’ala Natural Area Reserve. I remembered that my daughter and I walked around part of that reserve in 2015. I didn’t photograph any birds, but I did take one of my favorite pictures of the whole trip just as we left the fenced area heading back to the car – a camellia among tree fern fronds

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Day 4:

  • Albatross…doing nest counts….they live very long lives (there is a female that was tagged in 1956 on Midway Atoll that is still producing healthy chicks there!)…World Albatross Day was June 19, 2020

  • A Perfect Day for an Albatross (book)… the author talked about producing the book and demonstrated her block print technique before the book was read by 2 educators at Kauai

  • Manu, the Boy who Loved Birds (book)…author talking with the publisher and the expert that helped with the book…and then a reading of the book…thinking about recent extinctions and what we can do to help surviving species in Hawaii

Day 5

  • Hawaii Wildlife Center…bird assistance/hospital and conservation programs…I learned that warm water is required if birds need to be washed because their normal temperature is higher than ours and if they are injured/oily/emaciated, they will go into shock if washed with room temperature water!

  • Manu-o-Ku (white tern) nesting in Honolulu…what happens when the chick falls out of the nest? Most of the time, volunteers are called and it’s put back in the nest or in the tree close to the nest…and the parents welcome it back!

  • No Ka Manu Hea Keia Nuku? (To which bird does this beak belong) (book) – In Hawaiian and about Hawaiian birds! It was a great finale to the Festival.

And after all the joy of the videos, I won a drawing for a festival swag pack that will be coming in the mail! The virtual festival was a great addition to our mid-October during this pandemic year!

30 Years Ago – October 1990

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Looking back through pictures and notes from 30 years ago – it was a happy month…but full of big changes that my family handled better than we’d anticipated. I went back to work full time…straight into to proposal team that required full time in the office plus some work at home time. I had just set up an office of my own at home the month before…was still using the IBM PC AT that was over 5 years old. My daughter was already trying to help. Note that I didn’t have a rolling chair yet. We purchased two that month for my husband and I (evidently after the picture was taken) and we still have them!

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My planning wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough that we all felt like things were going well. I made pumpkin muffins several times during the month since they were tasty snacks (or mini-meals) that we all enjoyed. And made meal plans each week for my daughter’s lunches packed for day care and our dinners.

My husband and I were thrilled that she took her first steps with us rather than in day care late in September…and then she was off and climbing. Even though we thought we had baby-proofed the house…but we had typical calamities of her running into her indoor tree house face first, hitting her head on the foot board of the bed while climbing up, and almost tilting over the back of her little rocking chair.

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We all enjoyed the fall foliage day trip to Catoctin with her riding in the backpack more than walking around. When we got her out to walk around in the leaves, they were deep enough to be at least knee deep for her…and she didn’t want to move around in them!

I was busy making the rounds of yard sales to stock up on larger clothes for her and found some bargains. Most of her clothes were bought used but I couldn’t resist a new green velveteen dress with a big white color that she wore for several holiday pictures in the coming months…and it got handed down to her cousins after it got too small for her…and probably sold at a yard sale 10 years or so later.

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 17, 2020

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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: October 2020 – Starting out the weekly gleanings with birds.

Linking calorie restriction, body temperature and healthspan -- ScienceDaily – Interesting research. I went off on a tangent thinking about “up to half of what we eat every day is turned into energy simply to maintain our core body temperature.” Many people in the developed world spend the majority of time in temperature-controlled buildings or homes…and that means we probably expend a lot less calories warming or cooling ourselves than we did prior to efficient heating and cooling systems. Just one more way we are changing our environment in a way that will tweak our future evolution.

The super-adaptable chimps that can withstand climate change - BBC Future – I didn’t realize how many different habitats chimpanzees are found in…and that the ones that live in environments with greater seasonal change have more varied behaviors to respond to those changes than chimps that live in an environment that doesn’t change much.

Environmental Education Goes Virtual: Creating Meaningful Learning Opportunities at Home: The National Wildlife Federation Blog – So many good online resources…they’ve been developed over years but are probably getting a lot more use during this pandemic year.

It's Tarantula Season At Bandelier National Monument – I’ve not been to Bandelier during tarantula season! The last time I was there was in March 2005 and that was before I started taking a lot of pictures….this article reminded me that I want to go again. Maybe we’ll plan to go in the fall and be on the look out for the male tarantulas trying to find a mate. Here are a couple of pictures my husband took when we visited in 1980!

Are we living at the 'hinge of history'? - BBC Future – It’s difficult not to look at current trends and think the future will be a dystopian one with or without seeing this as a ‘hinge.’ The last paragraph was the best of the article: “So, while we do not know if our time will be the most influential or not, we can say with more certainty that we have increasing power to shape the lives and well-being of billions of people living tomorrow – for better and for worse. It will be for future historians to judge how wisely we used that influence.”

Why is America Running out of water? – Shortages are not everywhere…but there are places in the US that are already problematic…and there are a lot of people living in those areas.

Raptor Rescue: When Bird Injuries Warrant Rehab – This article was a good summary of things I’ve heard about before re injured birds.

Unusual climate conditions influenced WWI mortality and subsequent influenza pandemic -- ScienceDaily – Something new about the 1918 flu…torrential rains and unusually cold temperatures kept Mallard ducks from their normal migration…and thus spread the virus more broadly in the battlefields of the Western Front.

What 'net-zero carbon' really means for cities - BBC Future – Using London as an example: no/fewer cars and all transport EV, less concrete…more timber, buildings reused/retrofit, green roofs and walls, renewable energy, reduced waste through recycling and energy production, urban farms. It’s technology that exists now…and already is being applied…ramped up, of course.

Picturesque Spain – in 1922

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I enjoyed the 200+ pictures of Spain taken by Kurt Hielscher when he traveled the county beginning in the summer of 1914 then throughout World War I when he couldn’t leave. He published the photographs in 1922 in French, Italian and English editions. The books were very successful, and he went on to produce photographic records of Germany, Scandinavian countries, Italy, the Balkans, Austria, and Romania. He was one of the first photographers to make a living producing travel books. World War II curtailed/ended his travels and publications.

The first book – about Spain – is available from Internet Archive here. Hopefully more of his books will become available as eBooks as their copyright expires.

I’ve selected 8 sample images from the book….enjoy a little view into Spain in the early 1900s! (Use the arrows on the sides to move through the photos.)

7 Months in COVID-19 Pandemic

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Today marks the 7th month since the WHO declared the COVID-19 pandemic. I started a monthly post taking stock of the impact on my day to day life back in July (previous posts: July, August, September). Here’s the one for the 7th month!

There were few ‘new’ activities for us in the past month:

Propane taxi. We are using our gas grill again! We were glad the service to get it delivered was available in our area since the pre-pandemic process required a lot of contact with other people to trade in the old tank and get the replacement.

Voting. We would have been voting at this time even without the pandemic but we requested a mail-in ballot and put it in a Maryland drop-box at a nearby early-voting place rather than voting in person. We are checking the ‘status’ online; right now they are listed as ‘received’ and we anticipate that they’ll be ‘accepted sometime after the 12th when our country begins counting.

Conowingo field trip. We ventured out on a short road trip to Conowingo Dam which is a little over an hour from our house. It was the first time since February for an outing like this. It was good to get outdoors in a place other than the immediate neighborhood where we live….and we did some bird photography. It turned out to be very easy to wear our masks the whole time we were out of the car and we had plenty of hand sanitizer. The visitor center was open; everyone wore masks, and the bathrooms were clean/well supplied (as they were pre-pandemic too).

Gathering a pile of stuff to donate…to be picked up from our front porch. Charities are beginning to pick up donations again in our area. I have accumulated a pile of stuff and realize there is a lot more that I am willing to part with. The key decision questions for me are:

  • Have I used it in the past year?

  • Does it give me joy?

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Indian corn on the front door. I put the three ears of Indian Corn we’ve had for years on the front door to provide some seasonal decoration. There are some fall related chores as well like mowing the leaves that are falling. I have ended the work in the flower beds and brush piles to let overwintering critters settle in; most of what’s in the beds will be easy to clear away in the spring when the early spring flowers start to emerge.

Overall the ‘new’ activities, have continued our strategy of choosing low risk ways to go about our lives. There are things that we’ve continued -

  • Cape May Fall Festival (virtual). The fall is full of birding festivals that have gone virtual. The Cape May event was intense and we learned a lot….are all ready to go in person sometime in the future. There are others coming up that we are looking forward to. These have become our alternative to travel during the pandemic.

  • Groceries every other week and CSA pickup every week and curbside pickups. The routines of replenishing our supplies are functional and also provide us an opportunity to leave the confines of our neighborhood. Sometimes I use the opportunity to photograph a sunrise or the plantings at the CSA. As the weather has cooled, wearing a mask has become even easier.

It’s always good to have plans. We’re assuming that the pandemic will be the status quo at least through the end of the year (and probably beyond) and we plan to continue our strategies to reduce our risk. We are also assuming that the area of Maryland where we live will continue to adhere to CDC guidance as well as is happening now.

  • We’ll probably take a few fall foliage road trips like the trip we made to Conowingo – maybe to Catoctin/Cunningham Falls or Dan’s Mountain.

  • At some point we might get a POD container to load up with non-essential furniture and boxed items to make it easier to re-carpet our house as soon as COVID-19 is controlled.

  • And then there are the holidays….with special food and creative ways to enjoy our family even though we will not be in one location.

Conowingo on a Fall Morning – Part 2

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Continuing our short field trip/road trip to Conowingo (part 1 post is here)….

Today’s post focuses on the Great Blue Heron that was relatively close to our viewing location (in the lower left of the image below).

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It stayed on the same rock for quite some time. I took portrait shots when it moved any part of its body. It is a bird that was born this year…just getting in some adult feathers. I think my favorite of the portraits is the one with beak pointed down…a rather stern-loooking image. Something caught the bird’s attention away from the water at some point and it turned toward the rocky embankment.

It looked around and it became obvious that the bird was going to move.

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It didn’t fly….it started walking. Note the big toes as it takes a step (use the arrows to move back and forth between the 2 images).

And then it was off….making it’s way to a new vantage point – where it stayed until we left. It must have gotten a fish earlier because it seemed to be observing the scene rather than actively fishing.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Hawai’i Island Festival of the Birds. The festival starts on 10/15 and registration is free (site to register is here). I registered weeks ago but checked to make sure I had all the info I needed to find the festival on the 1st day. The videos are pre-recorded and made available on the day they are listed on the calendar of events. I except to see birds that I have never seen before! When I visited Hawai’i in 2015, I was so overwhelmed by everything else that was new to me that I only noticed a few birds. I’d like to go for the festival some year.

Conowingo on a Fall Morning – Part 1

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My husband and I took a ‘field trip’ to Conowingo dam this week – the first such trip since last February; we did it in a low risk way and will probably enjoy the fall a bit over the next few weeks with similar outings. We were gone for a little over 3 hours…with 2 of the hours on the road. At Conowingo we made a short stop at the Visitor Center for a ‘rest stop’ with masks…hand washing…and then hand sanitizer once we were back in the car. I took some pictures of the Bald Eagle carving and some of the plantings in front of the visitor center.

When we got to the fishing/bird viewing area – we noticed the low water right away. The dam was not generating so the fish were not being churned up. Note how calm the water is toward the dam. Do you see the Great Blue Heron in the lower left? Part 2 of this post will be about that bird.

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There was an adult Bald Eagle on the ’50 yds’ abutment that stayed for the entire time we were there. I took digiscope pictures (i.e. phone attached to spotting scope on a tripod) first. The bird is looking around and the breeze is ruffling feathers on the head.

Then I took some pictures with by Canon Powershot SX 60 HS (bridge camera) on a monopod….which is my usual birding camera. The bird was moving its head more….it seemed intent on not moving any other part of its body though! I’m still more comfortable using the camera rather than the digiscope.

The birds on the water today were Double Crested Cormorants. They were sometimes in groups….usually on their own diving quickly to go after fish.

I saw one come up with a fish and then noticed a Great Blue Heron (not the heron in the earlier picture) flying toward it. By the time I started taking pictures the heron had plopped down right next to the cormorant….but the cormorant made a quick get away with his prize leaving a surprised heron behind. Use the arrows to move through the 5 images.

I always try to look at the Paulownia (princess tree) growing on the cliff next to the parking area. The seed pods are maturing. It’s an invasive tree but one that it tolerated – sometimes – because it is pretty.

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Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Notification that ballot was received. I got an email from my state acknowledging that the ballot I put in the drop box has been received! I great to get that confirmation. The email included a link to the Maryland site where I can find out when it is accepted/counted too. There was a local news story saying that my county would start counting on the 12th so I’ll start checking every day after that.

Last CSA flowers? The cutting garden at the CSA is winding down. The zinnias are about done for the year. I got one sunflower and then some smaller purple ones (don’t know what they are) to make a small bouquet to sit in the kitchen window along with the green tomatoes I hope will turn red. I’ve already enjoyed 2 that turned red recently.

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Chinese Teahouse in Newport

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I was browsing through the Architectural Record publication for 1916 (via Internet Archive) and discovered the June issue featured the Chinese Teahouse that I’d seen in Newport RI behind Mable House in 2014. In 1916, it was relatively new – having been added to the Marble House grounds by Alva Vanderbilt Belmont. According to Wikipedia – she hosted rallies for women’s suffrage there.

According to the article in the Architectural Record article, the structural members had lacquered surfaces written in Chinese characters. Two examples:

A woman of strong character is said to be a hero among women.

Women with pretty faces and fascinating manners really may overthrow cities.

How appropriate for this 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage! I’m belatedly disappointed that the teahouse was closed when I visited so I didn’t see them.

Here are a few pictures that I took back in 2014. I think I remember that the Treehouse has been recently renovated at that time and we being used as a place where tourists could get refreshments/take a break from tours of the Newport Mansions.

The Grandcat

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We haven’t officially met my daughter’s cat yet; he became our ‘grandcat’ during the pandemic (no way for us to make the trek from Maryland to Missouri during this time). Here are some annotated pictures that my daughter has shared with us over the past month – every one of them a little positive tweak to the day. Enjoy the cat pictures!

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My morning coffee companion

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I am probably supposed to be doing something

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Someone pounced on a tote bag

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Someone is going to have to explain to his students why their papers got crinkled

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Working at his desk

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At his standing desk

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This dude flying in the sky. Or laying on a yoga mat

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Opened my eyes to this dude this morning

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He was waiting on the end table on my side of the bed. But he had been curled up against me most of the night. Right now he had made a nest on me in the futon.

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Dun dun, dun dun

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Cat thermometer says its cold

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Lounging on me right now

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Cat on his throne

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TV cat

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He wants me awake so he can snooze on me

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Blackberry Looper Moth. I finally remembered the little moth I captured in my office a few days ago….and used iNaturalist to identify it: a Blackberry Looper Moth. It’s small but a pretty shade of green with whitish markings. It probably came into my office on one of the flowers from the CSA cutting garden. My picture is magnified enough to see the antennae clearly; they are not ‘feathery’ so it is a female.

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Gleanings of the Week Ending September 26, 2020

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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.

Closing the Racial Inequality Gaps – Citi Global Perspectives & Solutions – The report (summarized by NPR in Cost of Racism: US Economy Lost $16 Trillion Because of Discrimination, Bank Says) details the analysis  done by Citi that calculates the economic impact of racism….and thus puts a value on proposed government and individual actions to close racial gaps.

Top 25 Birds of the Week: Birds in Flight and Bird Interactions – Double the bird photos this week!

Infographic: Dialing Down the Glitz | The Scientist Magazine® - The mechanism that makes dramatic sexual dimorphism in some finches.

How vitamin C could help over 50s retain muscle mass -- ScienceDaily – Another reason to eat Vitamin C rich foods (and take a supplement when that is not possible).

A guide to natural sweeteners – in C&EN – Compound Interest – A good summary of the chemistry behind natural sweeteners. I am enjoying the stevia leaves I am getting from the CSA’s cutting garden right now – building up my supply a little every week of dried leaves and stems to enjoy even after the cutting garden ends for the year.

Schooling is critical for cognitive health throughout life -- ScienceDaily – Boosting cognitive skills early in life not only expands career opportunities and provides progressively higher salaries…it also pushes back the point at which age-related dementia begins to impact a person’s ability to care for themselves. Education is a good long-term investment for everyone.

Study Tracks Geographical Gene Flow and Ancestry in the US | The Scientist Magazine® - Beginning to get deeper genetic studies that might translate to better understanding of risk of disease across sub-populations within the US.

Scientists use fruit peel to turn old batteries into new -- ScienceDaily – Recycling metals from lithium-ion batteries with food waste…an example of the types of processes we need to develop for a circular economy (zero waste).

Hike in Walnut Canyon – A short video of a special place. I first visited in 1971 in the winter. It was memorable. Maybe I’ll go again after the pandemic is over; it’s high enough elevation I’ll make sure I am acclimated before I hike the trail to see the cliff dwellings up close.

The Undoing of US Climate Policy: The Emissions Impact of Trump-Era Rollbacks – Many young people see climate change as a high priority for the government to address….so do I. This research shows that the actions of the last few years have moved the US in the wrong direction. I usually prefer to focus on solutions and what individuals can do….but the government has a roll to play and, right now, it is moving opposite of the way needed.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Letter sweater. I found my 50-year-old letter sweater (academic…not sports) from high school when I cleaned out the coat closet. It still fits! It’s a little chilly today and I am wearing it. I took the letter off years ago but the flap in the pocket has my name embroidered on it. One of the buttons aged differently than the others – looks reddish rather than black. I’ll wear it as a basic black cardigan (with the odd button) in the fall and winter. I made a small pile of some other things in the closet to give away. My pile is big enough now that I am scheduling a pickup from my front porch!

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Black-eyed Susans

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The Black-Eyed Susan is the Maryland State Flower. There are a few plants that always grow in the front flower bed – coming up year after year since we had a butterfly garden there more than 10 years ago. The other plants were not as enduring. The day lily bulbs are so dense that the leaves shade out just about everything else.

The Black-eyed Susan leaves come out early and are big enough to hold their place among the day lilies. Sometimes the buds form low enough that they are protected from the deer by the day lily leaves around them.

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Other times the buds are on the end of spindly stems and the deer sometimes eat a few of them. The buds must not taste as good as other vegetation because the majority survive.

I’m always please to see the flowers more easily after I cut back the day lily leaves in later summer. The Black-eyed Susans become the big color in the garden then.

When I was taking pictures of the flowers recently – I managed to get close enough to get a relatively good picture of a bottle fly. The temperature was in the low 60s and the fly was not as active as it would be later in the day.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Working Cat. My daughter sends us texts with pictures of her cat. He became part of the family during the pandemic, so the pictures provide our first impressions of him. He has favorite lookouts where he can monitor the rabbits in the yard. Her annotation for pictures below were “working at his desk” and “at his standing desk today.”

6 months in COVID-19 Pandemic

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September 12th marked the 6th month since the WHO declared the COVID-19 pandemic. I started a monthly post taking stock of the impact on day to day life back in July (previous posts: July and August). Here’s the one for the 6th month!

There were three activities that were new during this 6th month – things that were critical enough to not put off:

  • Our clothes dryer broke. Our first reaction was panic…a bit more than we would have during pre-pandemic times. Fortunately, the problem seemed to be something we had experienced before (the heating element) and the manufacturer had a website to make a repair appointment. It was a little frustrating that the repair person came to diagnose the problem but our dryer was old enough that the part had to be ordered…so it took 2 service calls. On the plus side – masks were worn by all….and we didn’t have to buy a new dryer.

  • I got a flu shot at my grocery store pharmacy. It was not crowded but I was very aware that I felt more stressed than in previous years – hyper aware of where people were around me. It feels strange now to be closer than 6 feet to anyone other than my husband. Everyone was wearing masks which made it a little better; I had to go later than my usual shopping time because the pharmacy opens later than the grocery part of the story. When an effective vaccine is available there will be a time of re-socialization – getting acclimated again to having more people around in closer proximity.

  • My husband and I both got our cars serviced – something we had been putting off. My husband’s car was the forcing function because a button came off/broke. We didn’t wait at the dealership for the service to complete. That meant that we chose a closer-to-home dealership for his car. For mine – the dealership where we purchased the car 3 years ago was the closest. Overall – it was an OK experience: all the people in the service area were wearing masks and we could (mostly) maintain distance. We brought our own bottle of hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes --- drove way after the service with the windows down to fully exchange the air in the car.

We’ve started talking about when we might venture out to get haircuts since are looking a bit scraggly (last haircuts were in January). The place we normally go is accepting appointments so maybe we’ll go in the next month.

Virtual Bird Festivals are dominating our webinar experiences. In the past month we’ve enjoyed Yampa Valley (Colorado), Bosque del Apache (New Mexico), and Puget Sound (Washington) videos and webinars.   There will be others coming up throughout the fall.

I am prioritizing finding activities that give us joy....to combat the aspects of these pandemic times that are depressing.

  • Who would have predicted 20 years ago that improving communication (i.e. social media and the internet) would result in such a dramatic increase in anarchy (other names could be conspiracy theories, fictional stories/events presented a fact, encouragement of armed resistance) along with the positives? I would really like it to be easier to find validated/confirmed news stories and a lot less opinion (outright lying).

  • Growing up in the 1960s at a time when everyone was following public health guidance re the sugar cube polio vaccines….it surprises me now that there are people opposed to wearing masks. I grew up thinking that it was a social responsibility to behave in a way that cared about others: getting vaccines, stopping at stop signs/red lights, requiring people in the car with me to wear seat belts, wearing shoes in eating establishments, etc.

  • In this 6th month the linkage between climate change and the pandemics became more obvious to me with the fires along the west coast (record breaking hot dry conditions, big electrical storms). In the near term –the evacuations make social distancing a challenge and the smoke impacts lung function in ways that probably will increase the deaths from COVID-19 in some areas. It’s a compounding tragedy. In the longer term – perhaps it increases the overall awareness that more climate actions (moves to reach drawdown and change mitigation) are required for our own health (as well as the health of everything on our planet). The life expectancy for humans may have already peaked.

I still think my husband and I are positioned to weather this pandemic by continuing the vigilance of the last 6 months. We are making carefully planned adjustments but continue to spend most of our time at home until there is a safe and effective vaccine.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Gleanings from the Puget Sound Birding Festival. The first day was the most intense with some pre-recorded videos then 4 hours of webinars. I was glad there were 30-minute breaks between the sessions but was exhausted by the end. Here are some links I gleaned from the sessions:

Just as with the Yampa Valley virtual festival…..I want to go to this festival one too!!!! Maybe next September – and plan some visits to some of the parks in the Northwest on the same trip!

Mini-clover update. There’s only been one day that we could skip watering because it rained. Otherwise – I’ve turned on the water 1st thing in the morning and my husband goes out an hour later to move the hose to the second location. Teamwork.

Cat at the door. Our cat tends to watch us from the window beside the front door when we are working in the front yard. Sometimes we can tell that he is meowing (yelling) at us.

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Gleanings of the Week Ending September 12, 2020

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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: September 2020 - Wild Bird Revolution – Starting out this list with bird pictures!

The wind turbines standing up to the world’s worst storms - BBC Future – Designing turbines that can withstand typhoons in the Philippines and Japan….at the same time climate change is making the storms stronger. We are going to need more of this kind of engineering.

Photography in The National Parks: Capturing Sunrise, Sunset, And the Milky Way At Mount Rainier’s Sunrise Area – Good views of Mount Rainier…and a photography tutorial…with ‘how to’ during the pandemic.

Home Valuation Needs to Consider the Risk of Climate Change - News | Planetizen – The piece is focused on sea-level rise but there are other climate change factors that might also need to be considered: increasing drought (i.e. some places that won’t have enough water to support the population living there) and – perhaps related – extreme heat/fire risk. Our government should not be willing to buy increasingly risky mortgages through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Cassowary Quest: A Tale of Danger and Defecation – Learn a bit about the cassowary – great picture and video too.

American Academy of Sleep Medicine calls for elimination of daylight-saving time -- ScienceDaily – I hope the drive to not switch times begins to gain momentum. It’s annoying – and not healthy for us either.

Dragonflies the Star of Photography Book About Their Lifecycle – We didn’t get to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens this year to photograph dragonflies (along with the lotuses). These pictures are awesome….and encourage me to think about spending more time near ponds next summer.

The rare plants that ‘bleed’ nickel - BBC Future – Phyto-mining may be an alternative to using heavy machinery, destroying an ecosystem, and producing toxic waste. Hopefully, the work being done now will quickly become the dominate way to mine nickel.

A Field Guide to Finding Cool Moths – Mothing is (not yet) as popular as birding. The techniques discussed in this article are a good start. I’m going to try leaving the porchlight on tonight – checking around it before I go to bed and then again when I first get up (when it’s still dark outside). I’ve seen and photographed several of the moths mentioned in the article:

Hummingbird moth (Maryland in 2016)

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Ailanthus webworm moth (Maryland in 2018)

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Luna moth (Missouri in 2019)

Polyphemus moth (Maryland in 2019)

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Understanding how birds respond to extreme weather can inform conservation efforts -- ScienceDaily – An example of how scientists use the data submitted by a large number of people into eBird to answer questions re the impact of climate change and the resilience of birds (or lack of resilience).  

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Prius Prime maintenance. The miles put on the car since the last service were minimal, but it was time for the maintenance. Everyone at the dealership was wearing masks but there didn’t seem to be any hand sanitizer stations (I was glad I had brought my own). I brought disinfectant wipes for the inside car surfaces when I picked up the car and then drove away with the windows open to clear out the air in the car….continued to wear my mask for most of the drive home.  

I’ve about used up the tank of gas I bought 9 months ago so I’ll fill it up and start plugging it in again to do all my errands with it as an EV. I hope there is a vaccine available by the end of the year --- and I’ll be out and about a lot more.

Mini-clover update. We’ve had gentle rain for the past few days and temperatures in the low 70s into the 80s. The clover is a cloud of tiny of green leaves on the surface of the bare spots in our yard. This is evidently good clover growing weather!

Monarch Caterpillar update. I only found one caterpillar this morning and it hasn’t moved much since I saw it yesterday. It’s large…hope it is about ready to make a chrysalis.

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 29, 2020

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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.

Ancient Artisans in Arabia, the Americas Invented Same Technology Independently | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – Stone fluting… and the fluting is not the same so it may have had a different purpose.

Baby boomers show concerning decline in cognitive functioning: Trend reverses progress over several generations, study finds -- ScienceDaily – The impact of modern life in the long term?

Ramesses II Statue Unearthed in Egypt - Archaeology Magazine – Multiple statues have been found…made of black and pink granite.

Top 25 birds of the week: #Waterbirds – Beautiful birds…not as many from North America as I expected.

Stone Sculptures of ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ Characters to Adorn Medieval Church – Replacing weathered carvings. There are 14 limestone carvings that will be displayed at ground level for visitors to see before being installed on the church’s exterior.

On the Delaware, A Promising New Era in Cleanup of an Urban River – Like many urban rivers in the US – a lot of progress has been made since the mid-20th century….but there is still a ways to go. Many of the urban rivers are clean enough in some stretches for recreational use….but often not after storms when sewage systems and extra industrial waste might be in the water along with the storm water.

Are you being served? A short history of waiters and servers in restaurants – Many of us are still in the mode of only getting carry out!

Examining the Chemistry of Yellowstone National Park's Thermal Waters – A little chemistry lesson in this post. Many of the hot springs and geysers are basic…mud pots and steam-driven fumaroles are acidic.

U.S. Commercial Rooftops Hold 145 Gigawatts of Untapped Solar Potential – The big challenge is logistical and financial. It seems that a partnership between commercial properties and community/utility solar would be worthwhile. It would be much better to use commercial rooftops than farmland for solar panels and many of the rooftops are in areas that consume a lot of electricity as well.

Record-Breaking 60,000 Flamingos Flock to Southern France -The picture of an adult flamingo surrounded by babies/juveniles caught my attention. I didn’t know that young flamingos are gray!

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Flu shot. I got to my grocery store’s pharmacy just after they opened at 8:30 AM – got a flu shot. The store was busier than when I do my grocery shopping staring around 6:30….but it was still mostly possible to social distance…and everyone was wearing masks. I’ll stick with the earlier time for my grocery shopping.

The August Pivot

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What a difference a year makes! Last year in August I was finishing up Zentangle sessions and butterfly migration games with Howard County Conservancy summer campers

And ramping up my volunteer shifts with the Brookside Gardens Wings of Fancy butterfly exhibit that would continue into mid-September.

My husband and I made a day trip to the Patuxent Wildlife Refuge where I managed to photograph a cicada in foliage (following its sound).

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Somethings were the same: there was the weekly pickup of the CSA share and grocery shopping (although I did it weekly rather than every other week).

Another aspect of the month that is turning out to be similar is the pivotal aspect of the month. For so many years of our lives, we have been so tuned to the school year that it only seems natural that August is a starting point – a change over from relatively free form summer to more structured ‘school.’ Even though we don’t have the forcing function of an actual school – we invent the pivot for ourselves.

Last year we were making plans for the fall and early winter: an astronomy focused camping trip, a birding trip to Smith Island, day trips to Conowingo (for the Bald Eagles), Thanksgiving in Springfield MO, a day trip to the Maryland State House, 3 days Delmarva birding, and the a trip to Texas for a family visit and then the Laredo Birding Festival. All in the September to February period. The travel was interspersed with lots of volunteer gigs.

The pivot is still happening this year but the plans are just for the early fall and are all birding festivals that have gone virtual: Yampa Valley (Colorado) Crane Festival Sept. 3-6, Puget Sound Bird Fest Sept. 12-13, Cape May Fall Festival Oct. 2-4, and Hawaii Island Festival of Birds Oct. 15-19. The two big festivals in November (Rio Grand Valley and Festival of the Cranes) have cancelled this year. I’m looking forward to the virtual festivals in September and October… and on the lookout for opportunities for virtual travel or online classes in November, December, and January.