What is the one word that perfectly describes your day today?
submitted by [this is connie]
Is "Beachtaculous" a word? We're going to the coast for a few days, for J to take a break from work and for me to chase little shorebirds across the sand.
Actually I'll just be looking at some tidal flats and salt marshes to figure out a method of researching birds out there without getting eaten by the salt monster that lives at the beach. Or something like that.
I'll be online, though. Pictures soon!
If you have any rare species of bird living in your yard, you may want to drape yourself over your property in case the government wants a new landfill.
If you hadn't heard, Bush and the Secretary of the Interior are radically changing the Endangered Species Act, which reviews any act of deforestation, paving over wetlands and so on, and then tries to leave enough habitat so that we don't lose the species altogether.
Bush no longer thinks that's necessary. Look, the guy with the bulldozer is outside a lot, he hasn't seen any slimy salamanders, so why waste taxpayer money? Another kicker is that Bush has repealed the 30 day comment period for citizens. But we've always been allowed to comment - what happened?
When the polar bear was under threat from global warming, the Natural Resources Defense Council sued the Administration, and forced them to list the polar bear. Fish and Wildlife received over 600,000 comments from the public, (some of them from people right here on Vox) supporting the polar bear listing. The public comment period was repealed by Bush soon afterwards. However, the NRDC has solved the problem.
Many of our local species may be finished off by this change to the ES act. Bush is wasting no time - as a "gift to his timber friends" the spotted owl is set to lose 1.6 million acres of its habitat, even though it is still listed. However, the NRDC are a powerful group - one of the only on record that has dared to take Bush to court - and won. Please check out their really cool website, and the blog of Andrew Wetzler on the NRDC's blog site called Switchboard. This action will be taken by both Fish and Wildlife and the National Marine Service, so it will affect our oceans as well. But the NRDC has given us a way to have our voices heard! We have found some new cowboys to keep us happy. Here's where you can comment.
**Update: I had to correct the above link for where you can comment. It's all fixed, and linked to a pre-written letter. Just sign up and the NRDC is really good about privacy.
It has been a pretty cold August here. I'm feeling like I should break out the hot beverages and the walking along the beach in fall sweaters. I miss South Carolina!
However, I got some good news yesterday, I have been invited to a federally protected coast to conduct research on shorebirds' use of different habitats.
I'll have to bring both my iced tea and my thermos for warm beverages!!
Just a quick check in, guys. This gorgeous brooder to my left is called a razorbill, in the auk family. They are not related to penguins, but probably got their resemblance by convergent evolution. I have been reading about them in my new favorite book by Scott Leslie.
I was in the bookstore searching for new thesis ideas. Being my usual snotty self, I rejected all books written by those without degrees in biology of some sort. Or at least authors with a hotness factor.
Well, this book caught my eye in the same way that books by hunters do; we know that these folks are out there getting their boots soaked like the rest of us.. That's not to say that biologists don't know their stuff, but rather that being in the field is so crucial, that those who are out there every day may know more than those who aren't, degree or not. (The photo from Creative Commons, not Leslie). Of course I'd love to study these guys, who can be found in Maine, if I didn't mind having ice hanging off of my eyeballs for 4 field seasons.
Auks are highly vulnerable to oil spills. I mentioned in my oil spill post that 500,000 sea birds died in the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989. As it turns out, 200,000 of these birds were common murres, the close relatives of razorbills. This is because their breeding areas are close to the shipping lanes, where spills commonly occur and where ships sometimes illegally clean out their bilges. On a related note, my Vox friend B wrote another funny Jackass of the Day post, relating to drilling for oil and the endangered species act. Check it out.
Imagine, Voxters, that to relieve the blahs, you go out and buy some sparkling wine, and local strawberries to go with it. And while you're reveling in your treat, you know that you're simultaneously protecting an endangered species.
Well, raise your glasses, because there's reason to celebrate. A while ago I posted on the critically endangered Iberian lynx. At that time there were between 150 to 200 remaining; today, they are down to between 100 and 150.
In the region of Andalusia, Spain, that is.
National Geographic reports that a new population of Iberian lynx has been discovered on the private estates of Castile la Mancha, a province in Central Spain. The icing on the cake is that this population may be genetically unique from the Andalusia population, which would mean that if the two ever intermingled, it would mean more genetic diversity and a healthy population in the future. It also emphasizes the fact that relocating the cats, which was the original conservation plan, would be an extremely terrible idea. And now it may not be needed.
Iberian lynx are small wild cats found only in the Mediterranean scrubland of Spain. At 30 to 60 days of age, the cubs fight each other to the death to eliminate weak siblings. Female siblings, however can grow very close and may share territory for a lifetime. Iberian lynx depend heavily on rabbits for food. Lynx numbers took a dive in the 1950's after a doctor introduced a deadly rabbit disease called myxomytosis to Spain, because he wanted to kill rabbits eating plants from his garden. Lynx began starving to death in large numbers.
Today, Myxomytosis is still killing rabbits. The lynx are also under severe threat from new roads being built, as they lose habitat and dozens are hit by cars. They are also hunted as trophies, and are losing habitat to farmland being cleared for exported crops like strawberries. And from their cork forests being chopped down to make corks for wine bottles and other items.
If this cat goes extinct, it will be the first big cat to be lost since 9,000 years ago when the saber tooth tiger disappeared.
This new population gives great hope; we can increase that hope by buying local produce. Preventing global warming,which promotes the spread of rabbit diseases.Buying wine with screw-tops, which food experts say is every bit as good as corks. And by paying attention to where our products are made when we purchase them.
Whenever J is fixing a computer, our highly trained feline, Watson, wants to help. He has spent years assisting J in pressing those pesky buttons on the oh so walkable black keyboard. So we weren't surprised when we saw this software being offered online.
Watson says, "Feh. I can't type the word 'human', but some day you humans will know what "Kobibblobybob" means and you'll be sorry you did not listen to us".
This is one of my passions which has been put on the back burner for a while now: Interior design. I have an enormously difficult time describing my design aesthetic to people, so I usually refer to this amazing magazine, Natural Home.
The look is exactly what I aim for: extremely minimal, yet warm. The furniture is oversized. The lighting is mostly natural from many large windows. The tables are blackish brown and everything else is pastel, with a splash of bright colors somewhere.
The cats have their own needs: Ives loves stairs and forts where he can hide. We also want king sized beds and large sofas so they can snooze comfortably. And Robbie's post about her beautiful side porch got me thinking: the cats would love a screened in porch. If you're in a bookstore, check out the July issue of Natural Home and take a gander at that patio!
While we're waiting for that dream home by the coast, my strategy is to unclutter our house and go to the Container Store for organizing and to buy a large dining room table. I'm aiming for rustic, simple and minimal. Looking at the photos from Natural Home, can you guys think of a name for this style? What do you think of the style in general?
Galileo may have had some competition. BBC reports that seals have a very saavy way of finding their feeding grounds in the pitch dark of night
Using infrared cameras, scientists have discovered that seals use stars for navigation. Until now, it was thought that only humans had this ability. The study has been published in a journal called Animal Cognition.
Late at night, seals must travel in between feeding grounds, which may be miles apart and are challenging to find in the open ocean, with no landmarks at all to guide them. It is believed that seals learn these paths by observing the position of the stars relative to the position of their feeding grounds during dawn and dusk, when they can compare the features of the sea and the sky.
Polynesians often use "kaviengas", or star paths to guide their boats. They identify one star in the sky until it gets too high to see, at which point they begin using another star for navigation. Seals, sea lions and whales have all been observed coming out of the water for several minutes, like a human treading water. Scientists believe this behavior may be for observing the stars before they continue on their journey, kind of like the way we pull over to look at a map.
Newsflash about my scientific research. It is a long, long, long story - but I have to change my thesis again. Make no mistake about it, I am completely dedicated to my chimney swift research.
In fact, I am just now discovering that it will be less like a two field season thesis, and more like a ten year commitment. There is no doubt about it, chimney swifts are now a rapidly declining species, and some day soon you might not see those sooty brown neotropical migrants swirling around your homes in the evening.
I realize this may be hard for some people to understand, but believe me, changing a thesis is common in grad school. Not questioning what will work in the given time frame is a huge mistake. A thesis project must be elegant, smart and achievable in a short amount of time.
So what's my next move? Shorebirds. After boring you guys with skimmer babble, I realize that marine biology and shorebird studies are the way to go. Two people in my cohort have done interesting and straightforward thesis work on the coast in Massachusetts, and that's what I plan to do. Examples of this are: staging areas for juvenille terns, the impact of human disturbance on shore birds, foraging behaviors of herons and the impact of bird boxes along coastal parks.
Since I began grad school, you guys have really helped me learn what I want and have been so great in giving me opinions and just plain sticking with me through what has been a really stressful yet life changing learning experience. Thank you so much. And if you have any ideas about shore bird studies, I would just love to hear them.
Have you guys heard about this? Senator Obama announced to the media that he promised his daughter a new family dog, probably from a breeder. Well, next thing you know the animal welfare groups are begging him to adopt from a shelter instead.
And I agree.
Normally I don't go for these celebrity targeted animal rights campaigns. For example, I am not crazy about PETA's tactics, and they often make a headline of the progress that another animal welfare group has made. However, the Best Friends Network was right to begin this petition.
Look at the difference Al Gore made when he refused to back down on the issue of global warming. Well, even if Senator Obama never makes it to the White House, he has a chance to make a bold statement and possibly change our attitudes about strays and shelter animals.
Personally I think that every shelter should be stray only. Once you adopt a pet, it needs to be a lifetime commitment. And strays, obviously, deserve better than this.The Best Friends Network is an animal welfare group who has written a petition for Senator Obama to consider adopting from a shelter. The last time I heard, they had collected close to 50,000 signatures. Obama does not want to tick off that many supporters!
***Important postscript: Spay / neuter programs are an important part of this. Having worked in several shelters, I can tell you that there's nothing worse than some lazy pet owner bringing in a huge box of kittens and having them all snatched up while the 1 and 2 year old cats on the adoption floor all have to be destroyed the next morning. While the problems in Greece are very dismal for both cats and kittens, in the U.S. it's mostly the adults who suffer.
Here is the petition in case anyone wants to sign it!
