Gleanings of the Week Ending April 2, 2022

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.

Where Have All the (Big) Cypress Trees Gone ... And Are They Coming Back? – The cypress stands survived logging but they may never again be as dominant as they were before. The largest trees now are about 3.5 feet diameter; the largest stumps from logging are about 5 feet diameter.

8 bird migrations, from past to present – The annual movement of birds is a part of spring….part of the yearly progression.

Cherry Blossom Time In Washington, D.C. – I was glad to get home in time to see the cherry tree in our yard bloom; it’s a little behind the trees in DC (we are a little north and not on the water).

Nature Conservancy to build solar farms at abandoned coal mines in Virginia – And thus an energy producing community, continues…leaning into the future!

The sound of Merlin: like Shazam, but for birds – An app that IDs birds by their songs…a learning experience to take on a walk.

Higher risk of temperature-related death if global warming exceeds 2°C – We’ll have to be more aware of heatwaves. Perhaps we would modify our behavior during those times…and medical interventions might help. There is a heat threshold above which our bodies are not adapted very well…that will cause increasing problems.

Rarely Seen Paintings by J.R.R. Tolkien Portray a Lush ‘Lord of the Rings’ Landscape – Another perspective of Tolkien…through his art rather than writing.

No breathing easy for city dwellers: particulates – Southeast Asia has seen the largest annual average increases in concentration and mortality rates between 2000 and 2019 from this type of air pollution.

How climate change is leading to bigger hailstones – The records for the largest hailstones have been broken in the last 3 years in Texas, Colorado and Alabama….reaching sizes of up to 6.2 inches in diameter. Large hail causes a lot of damage…if the incidence of large hail increases the damage/costs will trend higher too; the post includes a picture of a car damaged by large hail…daunting to anyone that doesn’t have their car parked in a garage.

Missouri Man Indicted For Fire That Destroyed Ozark National Scenic Riverways Visitor Station – I am paying more attention to news about natural areas in Missouri…now that I am preparing to move to the state. It’s sad when this type of destruction occurs – hard to fathom why someone would burn a visitor station.

Hawai’i Island Festival of Birds

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.

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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

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!

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 3, 2020

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.

Domesticated chickens have smaller brains -- ScienceDaily – 10 generations from wild junglefowl toward domestication….and they already had smaller brains.

750 Million GM Mosquitoes Will Be Released in the Florida Keys | The Scientist Magazine® - Reducing yellow fever and dengue carrying mosquitos at a time when more mosquitos are becoming resistant to pesticide-based controls. Texas might be the next place this technique will be used – pending state and local approval.

Earthquakes and insects on Alaska road trips - The Field - AGU Blogosphere – I browsed this article and remembered learning about the 1964 earthquake from the Weekly Reader in elementary school. So -this was an update about what the place is like today…with the town moved completely.

Nuvve And Blue Bird Combine To Create Electric School Buses That Are V2G Enabled – I wish all new school buses would be electric…and charged via renewable means…for the planet and, more directly, for healthier air for young lungs.

Top 25 birds of the week: Colours - Wild Bird Revolution – Beautiful birds….I never get tired of looking at images of the diversity in color and form the birds display.

The U.S. drought vulnerability rankings are in: How does your state compare? | NOAA Climate.gov – Looking at states that I know well because I have family members living there Maryland, Texas and Missouri have a high ability to adapt whereas Oklahoma has a very low ability to adapt (because they have an outdated drought plan and limited irrigation combined with extensive agriculture and cattle ranching). Is Oklahoma headed toward another dust bowl?

Five myths about wildfires - BBC Future – The 5 myths debunked in this article are: regularly logging forests prevents forest fires; there is nothing you can do to protect your property; wildfires are an inevitable fact of nature; all wildfires are bad and must be quenched immediately; it is possible to eradicate (control) all wildfires

Thousands of species recorded in a speck of soil -- ScienceDaily – DNA was extracted from permafrost samples representing different points in the Pleistocene - Halocene transition (about 11,000 years ago). Genetic remnants of animals like mammoths, horses, bison, reindeer along with 1000s of plant varieties were found!

The remarkable floating gardens of Bangladesh - BBC Future – Planting on floating rafts….large scale hydroponics that is not greenhouse based.

4 Fun + Informative (+Free) Apps for Upping Your Nature Knowledge – Cool Green Science – These are great Apps to id plants and animals quickly…with cell phone: SEEK, iNaturalist, Merlin, eBird.