Zooming – September 2024

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Lots of photography done since my last Zooming post. There was travel to Arkansas and Texas…and then the classes (Missouri Master Naturalist and Identifying Woody Plants at a local university). I’ve used all three of my cameras this month: Canon Powershot SX70 HS (bridge), Canon Powershot SX730 HS (point and shot) and iPhone 15 Pro Max.

September has been a busy month, and I am still trying to settle into the higher level of activity away from home! Enjoy the slide show for September 2024….

Johan Nieuhof’s drawings of Brazil, China, and India in the mid 1600s

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Johannes Nieuhof  travelled for the Dutch West India Company and the Dutch East Company…and documented his travels with drawings and annotations. According to the Wikipedia entry, he traveled from 1640 (when he was 22) to his death in 1672 (went missing in Madagascar) only returning home for short visits in 1658 and 1671. He entrusted his notes and papers to his brother Hendrik who produced the books attributed to Johannes. These ‘books of the week’ by Nieuhof are two available from Internet Archive.

Voyages and travels into Brazil and the East-Indies, 1640-1649

At the time these books were published, Nieuhof’s drawings of China were the first to show the country true to nature. He drew realistic images of structures, people, and plants/animals he saw as he travelled.  

Marcus Bayou and Johnson Beach (Pensacola FL)

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Marcus Bayou is a boardwalk over a water reclamation facility. We were there in the afternoon – enjoyed a forest walk without worrying about mud or tree roots! We heard many forest birds but did not see any long enough to photograph. The height of the boardwalk made for excellent views of shallow water…full of leaves and vegetation…reflections. The water appeared to be the color of weak tea.

The pine needles were long and there were both green and brown ones on the boardwalk – along with other debris. The boardwalk surface was rough….maybe stained pine.

There were quite a few ferns…a few fiddleheads. My camera’s zoom helped me get reasonable images of them from the boardwalk.

The next morning we visited another part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore – Johnson Beach. We waited a little too late for a lot of bird activity…only saw a Great Blue Heron

And some Laughing Gulls at the beach.

It was windy and I opted to photograph the various plants on the dunes that help hold the sand. There are wavey grass-like plants and others that hunker down and must sometimes get partially buried. The round glossy leaves barely above the sand were my favorites.

The roads in the National Seashore have areas of shallow water and accumulating sand – piles to the side where plows have scraped the sand just as they do after snowstorms in the north! We learned that the standing water happens after rainstorms…and dissipates quickly. That was true. There was a lot of rain the first night we were in Pensacola…and water on the road to Fort Pickens the next morning. We could see that there was a lot less water when we went to Fort Pickens the second time.

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 31, 2022

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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.

Best of 2022 - A Fun Map Puzzle – There are parts of the world where political boundaries have changed a lot since my elementary school geography class. The MapPuzzle game is a fun way refresh (or relearn) countries/states/provinces.

The year in chemistry: 2022’s biggest chemistry stories – I like these summary articles…and think about which one of the stories will be the most impactful in 2023.

Top 7 Building Decarbonization Wins In 2022 – Finally….now to maintain the momentum of these ‘wins’ and more into 2023!

Ten Remarkable New Plants Discovered in 2022 – And one of them is the largest waterlily on Earth…from Bolivia.

Shrinking Pollinator Populations Could Be Killing 427,000 People Per Year – The world is losing 3-5% of its fruit, vegetable, and nut production because of shrinking pollinator populations and lower pollinator diversity. That translates into less healthy food available…and associated health conditions like diabetes and heart disease. In Honduras, Nepal and Nigeria, the pollination deficits are responsible for a reduction of 3-19% in crop yields. This highlights the importance of making changes to support pollinator populations such as limiting pesticide use, maintaining existing natural habitats, and restoring others, and planting more flowers and diverse plants.

Overlooked Gems of The National Park System – In the cold of winter…time to plan some trips to parks for the year…including a few of the overlooked gems highlighted in this article.

Snow Day in Delmarva – Reminder of the area where we enjoyed a lot of day trips while we were living in Maryland….

Stunning Satellite Images of Our Changing Planet in 2022 – The before and after pictures have different elapsed times…be sure to read the captions.

22 Photos Honoring the Triumphs and Challenges That Face Wild Cats – A collection of pictures from Panthera, the world’s leading wildcat conservation organization.

Home Depot Does a Big Energy Deal, But It Does More Behind the Scenes – The Home Depot commitment is to produce or procure 100% renewable electricity equivalent to the needs of all its facilities by 2030 and they are taking actions to make it happen. Hope more big box stores will be taking similar actions.  

Mesozoic Plants

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The 3 volume Catalogue of the Mesozoic plants in the Department of Geology, British Museum was published between 1894 and 1900…authored by Albert Charles Seward early in his career and earned him membership in the Royal Society at the youthful age of 35. The specimens are from the Wealden beds; the most important finds came from near Hastings. The beds accumulated in a freshwater estuary or lake and include representatives of many plants. The volumes are available on Internet Archive: Vol 1, Vol 2, Vol 3. Seward devoted years to create the catalog: sifting through the fossils…organizing the material…creating images. It was a worthy endeavor and set the trajectory for the rest of his life.

As I browsed these books, I made a game of looking for plants I recognized in the fossils…ferns, conifers, ginkgo-like leaves.

Gleanings of the Week Ending September 29, 2018

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The Amazing Ancient Fishes of Africa – Cool Green Science – Lungfish, butterfly fish, bichir, bonytongue…most of them are air breathers!

Thinking beyond yourself can make you more open to healthy lifestyle choices -- ScienceDaily – Maybe we need to psyche ourselves to make better choices!

Japan's Hayabusa2 Spacecraft Successfully Deploys Landers to Asteroid Ryugu's Surface and Bouncing robots land on asteroid 180m miles away amid mission to fetch sample for Earth • The Register  – Exciting stuff from a rover on an asteroid! And the return mission in 2020 will be exciting too.

Molecule with anti-aging effects on vascular system identified -- ScienceDaily – A ketone body was identified that is produced during fasting or calorie restriction. It appears to delay vascular aging.

Free Technology for Teachers: A Good Resource for Learning About the Science of Food – 14 short videos about food research.

Scientists investigate how DEET confuses countless critters -- ScienceDaily – Evidently DEET interferes with organisms’ response to odors thus confusing the organism rather than repelling it!

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: Birds with Yellow Plumage – National Geographic Blog – I always enjoy the bird photographs

BBC - Future - How to use seawater to grow food – in the desert - An experiment in Jordan to farm with solar powered desalination of Red Sea water for greenhouses cooled as part of the desalination process. Jordan currently imports a high percentage of its food…if this type of farming can be cost effective the country might be able to feed itself and even export some foods.

How leaves talk to roots -- ScienceDaily – When I was in college taking biology courses in the 1970s – micro RNA was not in our vocabulary!

Well-Preserved Roman Road Uncovered in the Netherlands - Archaeology Magazine (more details at https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2018/09/roman-road-artifacts-found-during-digging-for-a-new-motorway/ ) – New finds like this are always a little surprising…things that were there for a very long time but covered over by a few feet of soil.