Zooming – April 2024
/Flowers (Nixa and Springfield MO, Sherman TX), – birds (Nixa and Springfield MO) – solar eclipse (Poplar Bluff MO)….a lot of zoomed images this month. Enjoy the 2024 slide show!
30+ turtles and a belted kingfisher
/Almost every time I walk around our neighborhood pond there is something I don’t expect. One morning last week, I set out to see the ducklings. I didn’t see them at all. I took pictures of moss growing on the edges of the inflow channel to the large pond (noted some seeds that were accumulating there too). There were some water plants that were beginning to grow. I wondered how much of the pond they would cover this summer.
The first ‘unexpected’ sight was a row of 30+ turtles on a sunny bank. Seeing turtles was not unexpected…it was the large number that surprised me…and, based on the size variation, they are clearly breeding in our neighborhood ponds. . (Click on the image to see a larger version if you want to count them!)
Some of them might be large enough to pull down a duckling! I think they are almost all red-eared sliders although there was at least one that did not have the red-ear…maybe some other species.
I continued my walk and saw a dove on top of a bird house in a yard. The holes looked big enough that maybe they were nesting there. Another bird that I couldn’t identify was looking for tidbits on the ground…looking frequently skyward. Was there a predator around?
The barn swallows were swooping over the pond. There are a lot of them.But then something flew across the pond that was not a barn swallow. I managed to follow it well enough with my eye to see it alight in a willow…and then used the zoom on my camera: a belted kingfisher (male)….the second ‘unexpected’ of the day.
There is no vertical bank area around our pond where a kingfisher might build a nest…but I found myself wondering if the sinkhole near our neighborhood might be a place that would be acceptable. These birds burrow 3+ feet into vertical banks to build their nests. It would be great to have some resident kingfishers thriving on the small fish in our pond.
Gleanings
/Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….
Gleanings for this week
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.
Volunteers Spot New Sites in Aerial Images of England - Archaeology Magazine – Volunteers and lidar scans…a productive combination!
Seven highlights from 70 years of the National Science Foundation - The Bridge: Connecting Science and Policy - AGU Blogosphere – Deepwater Horizon oil spill, public radio and television, ozone hole, strong curricula for introductory science, deep-sea exploration, student opportunities, and COVID-10 response. It seems like the list it too skewed to recent years.
We don’t need nearly as much protein as we consume - BBC Future – Another recommendation of getting nutrients from food rather that highly processed food or supplements….and moderation too. Skewing the diet toward protein at the expense of other nutrients is not healthy!
The Coolest Kingfishers from Six Continents – I’ve seen the first three! All three in south Texas and the Belted Kingfish elsewhere too. Kingfishers are an easily recognized shape….heavy bill, bigger head relative to body…etc.
How Americans are coping with COVID-19 stress -- ScienceDaily – This report was prior to the additional stressor of George Floyd’s death….the racism of police evident in the videos of the event and the response to protests that seems too militarized. It seems like 2020 will be a pivot point in our nation’s history and how we all respond to the stressors of the year is important in the outcome. I hope that we can show the best of ourselves…our utmost caring for all people and our planet that is our home.
Ice Arch Persists Despite Warm Arctic – It won’t last long…the ice arch which prevents sea ice from drifting south generally breaks up in June or July. Last year it broke up in mid-April.
'New' Footage of Benjamin, the Last Tasmanian Tiger Ever Seen Alive | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – A 21-second video from 1935.
Top 25 birds of the week: Seabirds - Wild Bird Revolution – I’ve seen most the North American birds in these photographs….except for the puffins.
Babies know when you imitate them -- and like it -- ScienceDaily – Most parents probably realize this to some extent…but the research teases out more specifics about how babies respond to knowing they are being imitated.
The remarkable power of the prickly pear - BBC Future – Grown as a crop for food in arid areas and then using the waste left after the food is extracted to generate biofuel. Wish we had more processes like this.
Unique activities for yesterday:
Aftermath of thunderstorm. I did another early morning in the outdoors – noting the aftermath of the thunderstorm the night before. Both birdbaths had been filled by the rain. The one in front is surrounded by day lily leaves…I’m not sure how often it is used by birds, but I like the way it looks from our front door.
The sycamore tree trunk still looked very wet. I had forgotten the Virginia creeper climbing up. There were a few sycamore leaves that were blown into the yard…but the wind must not have been too bad.
The wetness of the leaves kept some of the maple leaves flipped over. It’s always surprising that the underside is so light in color.
Finally, I noticed a dead bee just before I settled into my chair. It must have gotten into the screened part of the deck and not been able to escape.
The rest of my outdoor time I spent making a couple of Zentangle tiles….and listening to the birds.
Mint as a fresh veggie. Mint grows so easily and comes back year after year. My front flower bed has a lot of it…enough to use it for more than a garnish. I cut a handful of stems and strip the leaves – it is the leafy green in a smoothie with chocolate protein powder. Yummy!
A Zentangle Prompt
Make a two tangle tile today with ROSCOE and SAND SWIRL.
Here is a tile I made yesterday based on the prompt: Three patterns to combine in a tile today: FAUX WEAVE, FEATHER FALL, and MEER.
Links to my previous “filling a day of social distance” posts here.
--
The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. "Zentangle" is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.
Gleanings of the Week Ending February 3, 2018
/The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.
When 136 Bird Species Show Up at a Feeder, Which One Wins? | All About Birds – Interesting article. I’ve been thinking about the birds at my birdbath rather than my feeder (since my feeder only works for small birds that like the seeds). The blue jays are dominate bird at the bath…when they are around the others wait for their drink!
The lost art of looking at plants – Molecular tools and DNA sequencing overwhelming the detailed analyses of plants’ physical traits…but not there is a rebalancing; both are required to dive deeper into the many questions we still have about plant.
Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #124 – National Geographic – The first one in this series is a barn swallow…one of my favorite birds to watch. And there are three different kinds of kingfishers later in the post.
How Technology Is Creating a Generation of Adult Babies - The Ringer – Another way technology is either giving us what we want or convincing us that it is what we need.
The Dangers of Keeping Women Out of Tech | WIRED – An interview with Maria Klawe, President of Harvey Mudd College. She has increased the number of women in the school’s computer science program from 10% to 40%.
Every study we could find on what automation will do to jobs, in one chart - MIT Technology Review – It seems like almost everyone thinks automation will reduce the number of jobs….but the studies are remarkably different. It would be useful if there was enough consensus for people to make decisions about education and careers – but there just isn’t.
Fingerprints of Ongoing Human Evolution Found | The Scientist Magazine® - A study using large data sets with genomic information looked a gene variants less common in older people than younger people….and there are probably more coming soon because the data is ripe for analysis. So far they’ve discovered gene variants in Alzheimer’s and smoking related genes appear to be under selection pressure…i.e. that there are fewer old people with the variants than young (i.e. they tend to die earlier).
Gold crown of Hecatomnus returned to Turkey: Culture minister – Sometimes stolen artifacts are found and returned….Kudos to the authorities in both Scotland and Turkey for this result.
Parts of U.S. Saw an Increase in Zika-Linked Birth Defects in 2016 | The Scientist Magazine – Data from 2017 is not available yet. The researchers found 3 of every 1,000 babies born in Puerto Rico, southern Florida, and a portion of south Texas had a birth defect that could have been linked to Zika infection of their mothers.
Entomologist discovers millipede that comes in more color combinations than any other -- ScienceDaily – Pretty and covered in cyanide that will kill any bird that eats it.
Ten Little Celebrations – November 2017
/More than half the ‘little celebrations’ I’ve picked to showcase in this post are from the first two weeks of the month – spent in Texas.
During the first week there was a big birthday celebration for my Mother (with three kinds of cake!) and visiting Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge for the first time.
In the second week, the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival was one long celebration that include seeing two kinds of Kingfishers on one field trip!
I still am working on a post about the San Antonio Botanical Garden – it was the first time I’d been there and a place to celebrate.
I got to eat excellent Texas barbecue in three different restaurants during the trip too.
After every long trip – I celebrate getting home again; that was true for the November travel too.
We had company for Thanksgiving this year (daughter and son-in-law) so it was a shared celebration –something to savor.
And then there was the pre-staging of December activities that actually started in November: volunteering at the model train exhibit and
Garden of Lights at Brookside Gardens. I celebrate the season with every child that looks with awe at the trains or giggles with delight at Nessie blowing steam.
