Summer Plans

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My theme for this summer is catching up….and consciously maintaining practices that sustained my wellbeing during the pandemic. Being at home right now is such a pleasure: there are mornings cool enough to comfortably work in the yard or go for a hike, there are fabulous seasonal veggies and fruits available from the farmers market…and I am catching up on all the health-related checkups I put off for over a year. My husband organized our house’s heating/cooling system check up, asphalt driveway sealing, and deck re-staining. And I am continuing my high-volume book browsing (Internet Archive is like a candy store for books!), Zentangle making, getting 12,000 steps per day, a bit of yoga, writing down what I am celebrating/thankful for, writing blog posts….days are full…never boring!

Being able to go to Texas to see my aging parents in May was an important milestone…a relief from the time we had to stay at home where I could only see/hear them virtually. I’ve already planned another trip for July and will see more of the family then at a wedding. The big event for my parents after I left was a large mulberry tree being cut down in their yard. It had been ailing for some time and finally the rot around an old spilt was significant enough that the big trunks could crack apart at any time with the potential to damage three houses! My sister sent me a picture midway through the cleanup. I found myself wishing I would have been there for the drama! There is grief for the old tree….but also relief that it didn’t fall and cause a lot of damage.

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Being vaccinated gives me confidence to make the plan to drive to Texas in July and then again in September. I had anticipated that I would be more confident in July that I was back in April just after I was fully vaccinated…but the delta variant has reduced my confidence and I’ll keep wearing a mask when I am not sure everyone I am encountering has been vaccinated. I’ll be making the drive over 3 days with a stop in Springfield MO to visit my daughter where they are having a surge of cases due to the variant. I am glad she got moved to her new house during the lull in cases in late May. She is back to curbside pickup rather than going into any store.

I have opted to not volunteer this summer…waiting until the fall to get back into those activities…but the decision isn’t because of the pandemic.  The type of volunteering I enjoy the most is outdoors; in the summer it tends to be in the hotter part of the day which is sometimes problematic for me; I don’t want to cancel at the last minute because the temperature is too high or the air quality is not good. Toward the end of the summer there will be training for the new fall programs – I’m sure the pandemic has changed them a bit – and then I’ll get back into the fray.

Overall summer 2021 has been enjoyable so far and I am looking forward to the rest of it!

Short Hike at Howard County Conservancy – 3

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Continuing the posts about our recent hike at Howard County Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant –

We met some birders along the path along the restored part of Davis Branch …they told us about a heron standing in the stream. My husband and I went into quiet mode as we walked – checking the stream through the vegetation between the trail and the water…looking for the heron. Nothing. We got to the end of the trail and headed back…and saw it! The vegetation had blocked the view coming from the other direction.

The birds was a Black-crowned night-heron. It was standing very still in a shady riffle. At one point, we though the bird might be looking for breakfast, but we didn’t see it go after a fish or move very much for the time that we were watching. It did look around briefly. The red eye is striking.

I enjoyed experimenting with camera adjustments and magnification. It helped that the bird was so still. The smooth water in the foreground was a contrast to the turbulence beyond the bird.

Then bird then flew to a nearby snag in the wetlands area. I zoomed in for a closer look at the feet.

This was the first time I’d seen a Black-crowned night-heron at Mt Pleasant. I vividly remember seeing one on a birding field trip in Baltimore back in May 2018 – standing in trash that had accumulated in the water. It was refreshing to see the bird in better habitat.

Short Hike at Howard County Conservancy – 2

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As we headed down the trail by the stone wall, we started noticing dragonflies! My husband had been talking about a trek to Kenilworth to photograph dragonflies on lotuses – was pleased to find so many of them at Mt Pleasant. I knew when we sampled the stream, that dragonfly larvae were generally found…so seeing the adults was validation that their life cycle is continuing.

I photographed 4 different kinds in about 15 minutes! When I got home – I identified each one from my photographs.

The Common Whitetail Skimmer was the first that I photographed. When I was identifying, I realized I had photographed males and a female!

An Eastern Pondhawk was almost hidden in the vegetation.

The Ebony Jewelwings were very active making them more challenging to photograph. Their iridescence never seems as glorious on the captured images as it does when they move about.

Finally – I photographed a female Widow Skimmer (the males have a powdery blue abdomen…the female abdomen is yellow and black like in the picture).

Stay tuned for the second ‘wow’ sight coming in tomorrow’s post…

Short Hike at Howard County Conservancy – 1

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One of the big draws of Howard County Conservancy’s Mt Pleasant is that it is open from dawn to dusk….we always go early in the summer ahead of the heat. Last week, we were there before 8 AM when the air was still full of moisture burning off in the sunshine. The sweet bay magnolia in the rain garden near the parking lot was blooming…droplets of water on the leaves and flowers.

The milkweed plants are blooming in the meadow and we saw a Monarch butterfly. Hopefully there will be lots of caterpillars soon.

The Brood X cicadas were still around but definitely winding down. The morning was still cool enough that they weren’t flying around a lot…easier to photograph.

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The meadow was sunny…lush with growth after plenty of rain: a bunny munching on grass, blackberries ripening, and skippers fluttering.

There is some shade along the edges of the meadow…close to the stream. I liked the change in images that comes with that difference in light.

Near the end of our hike, I photographed some allium with light coming from behind. Again – enjoying the changes that light makes.

There were two ‘wow’ sights from the hike that I am saving for the next two blog posts….

30 years ago – June 1991

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Looking back at June 1991 – it seems that life had a faster pace…almost an unsustainable pace but common in families where the adults work and the child is less than two years old. We had company for 2 weeks out of the month. The first was a visit from a sister that had recently moved into a new house and needed a break for the flurry of that activity; we enjoyed several outings to the park and Ladew Topiary Gardens…discovered that McDonalds was an excellent place for lunch with a 21-month-old.

The second visit was a sister’s family – that included their daughter (a week older than my daughter). We prepared the girls prior to the visit by showing them pictures and videos of each other; it worked…they were immediate buddies. We went to parks and several museums (one was The Cloisters which was a children’s museum then and is now a wedding venue, another was Rose Hill Manor Park & Museums)…read books, splashed in the small pool on hot days, and enjoyed every inch of our house and yard. One was talking more…the other seemed to enjoy more complex books. We all had ‘Maryland is for Crabs’ t-shirts! In the picture below my daughter is hugging a tree along the Cunningham Falls State Park boardwalk – one of the outdoor places that was enjoyable for everyone in our group.

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Being outdoors…doing something with water…was one of my daughter’s favorite activities. We had tomato plants and gladiolus getting ready to bloom in the garden around the oak tree.

A summer cold made the rounds. My daughter had it for a few days…mine lingered and I eventually went to the doctor – got medicine for ear and eye infections.

In world news – children in Iraq were dying of cholera and other water borne disease…the Kuwait fires were slowly being extinguished.

Overall – it was a month full of juggling work with home life. I can’t say that it was a balancing act…it was more of a blending and using every minute optimally…exhausting but rewarding.

By the end of the month, I already had plane tickets to visit Texas in July. My husband would be with us on the flight down then continue to San Diego for a conference…the blending rather than balancing strategy again.

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 18, 2021

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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: Terrestrial Birds – Several ancestors of chickens in this group!

3D-printed material to replace ivory -- ScienceDaily – ‘Digory’ made of resin and calcium phosphate particles….can be used to restore old ivory artifacts.

Managing Colorado River risk | Science – The reduction of water in the Colorado River basin over time…the challenge of managing that reduction for 40 million people that depend on the water source.

Death metal: Evidence for the impact of lead poisoning on childhood health within the Roman Empire – A study of 173 skeletons from 5 sites dated AD 1st-4th centuries.

First State National Historical Park Gains 254 Acres – This could be a good day trip for my husband and I…getting there early enough in the morning for it to not be cool enough for a good hike.

Incredible Close-Up Portraits of Solitary Bees Highlight Their Character – Wow! A great project done during COVID-19 quarantine!

Human Teeth Hold the Secrets of Ancient Plagues - The Atlantic – Finding ancient pathogens in old bone….an interview with Johannes Krause, director of the archaeogenetics department at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Teeth are like a time capsule: bits of blood protected by the enamel.

Cool and COVID-safe: How radiant cooling could keep our cities comfortable and healthy -- ScienceDaily – Looking for ways to stay cool at lower energy costs than traditional HVAC systems.

Tiffany Stained Glass at Art Institute of Chicago | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – A church window transitioned to a museum and restored…now on display.

Mysterious Ailment Blinding and Killing Birds in Washington, D.C. Area – Glad we’ve had our feeder and bird baths put away for the past 6 weeks or so since we are in the process of getting our deck worked on. Fledglings of blue jays and grackles seem to be the birds impacted the most.

Brookside Gardens – Part 1

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Our visit to Brookside Gardens last week was early enough in the day that there were not many other people around. I found quite a lot to photograph so I am spreading the narrative and images over two posts (today and tomorrow). I took a picture of a fork in the path…the only landscape picture of the morning. The gardens are in early summer garb – the greens have deepened from the paler greens of spring. The flowers on the trees this time of year are white from a distance.

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The blooming trees that I noticed were: magnolias, Asian dogwoods (the natives are already showing their green seeds), and catalpas.

We took the time to walk around the paths near the Tea House. We saw several turtles in the water…they all seemed to be Red eared sliders which is not native to Maryland.

There were Canada Geese around but no goslings. I wonder how that was managed!

I didn’t see any of the larger butterflies…just some skippers and cabbage whites. The Wings of Fancy butterfly exhibit was cancelled for this year; hopefully, it will resume in 2022.

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Near the end of our walk, I took was some high key pictures of ginkgo leaves. It was a cloudy day…perfect for this kind of photography.

To be continued with tomorrow’s post….

Enjoying Home

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There is so much to enjoy about just being home. Even yard work is appealing! On the third day back – I was out early with the goal of cleaning out the front flower beds. I didn’t have enough energy to set the goal to completing the job…instead strived for two wheelbarrow loads back to the forest/brush pile. It was not too difficult and my long sleeves/gauntlet gloves protected my hands from poison ivy (there might have been one plant) and blackberry thorns.

I took short breaks to photograph tiny mushrooms, blooming clover (the clover we planted last fall in the problem areas of our yard is growing well), cicadas at every turn, and tiny blooms on our bushes.

I already have plans for another round in the front yard and then will begin work on the chaos garden (which is completely wild this year).

My husband and I have enjoyed some short ‘field trips’ to Brookside Gardens and to view the recent partial solar eclipse. One field trip per week is probably about right for us – even though we are still spending most of our time at home. We are choosing venues where there are outdoors…usually in the morning (sometimes very early)…where there are unlikely to be crowds. There are a lot of places we’ve enjoyed in the past that we haven’t been to for over a year!

Since I knew I would be going to Texas several times this summer, I opted to not sign up for the CSA this year; I’m going to the Farmers Market instead which happens ever Sunday. It’s worked well so far. I got spinach, broccoli and snap peas the first week…spinach, squash, and artisan bread with pecans and golden raisins the second week (the spinach is for green smoothies). I’m still a little overwhelmed with veggies since my husband doesn’t eat them…but I know how to freeze any that I have left over!

Last Sunday when I was pulling into the driveway after my trek to the Farmers Market, I noticed a lot of cicadas on the day lily leaves growing around our oak tree. Do you see three in the picture below? The temperature might have still been a little cool for them to be flying around. One of the things I like about our yard is how much wildlife we have around!

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I picked up some cicada carcasses from the driveway and did a little macro photography after I put away the produce.

I also brought in some stalks of day lily buds; it’s the same every year at this time – cutting the buds as soon as they are big enough to open in water…before the deer eat them!

I enjoy just about everything about being home…rejuvenating myself for my next foray away in mid-July.

15 months in COVID-19 Pandemic

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15 months in….The pandemic is waning - although not as rapidly as it would be if more people were vaccinated. It is frustrating that we have not reached herd immunity levels via vaccinations already. At this point, there are vaccines available to all over the age of 12; many states have closed their mass vaccination sites and transitioned to smaller venues due to lower demand. The variants are causing localized surges in cases among unvaccinated people; so far, the vaccine is still effective against the variants although a bit less so for some variants. I am continuing to wear a mask any time I am in close proximity to other people (particularly indoors)…thinking about those that are too young or impacted by immunological challenges. I’m glad that most states are working to address vaccine hesitancy….hoping that those efforts will increase the numbers of people vaccinated enough to achieve herd immunity but worried that some areas of the country will continue to be hot spots for COVID-19 into the future. As time goes on, it is harder to be sympathetic with people that refuse the vaccine…and then get sick…and increasing the probability that at some point a variant will emerge that the vaccines don’t stop.

I continued the trip way from home over the past month and returned home. It was a huge change after being at home all the time during the pandemic. It was invigorating and stressful at the same time; I became more aware of my changed perception of other people. Keeping distance has become habit. Many times wearing a mask prompts silence too; it’s time to reinstate greetings to people we meet on sidewalks and gardens!

After I got home, the different between my area of Maryland and the places I traveled through (in Texas and Missouri for the most time) were noticeable. The CDC map shows that Maryland’s vaccination rate is higher than where I had travelled – but I noticed that people here are still wearing masks more frequently too. When I got to the grocery store (in the early morning), everyone is masked. At the Farmers Market, most people are wearing masks even though it is outdoors (likely to be close to other people though). At Brookside Gardens, people have a mask with them and put it on if they are close to other people. I haven’t ventured out more than that. My husband (also vaccinated) is still doing curbside pickups rather than going into stores.

I have re-started checkups. Dentist was first; I needed 3 crowns (one a replacement of a 30-year-old crown and the other two were for teeth with big fillings). Optometrist was second; my eyes had changed enough (my eyes has improved!) to need new glasses; I used that as an excuse to get red frames for my computer glasses. There are still more appointments to catch up on everything I delayed since March 2020.

I’ve started wearing earrings and makeup again although not on days I will be wearing a mask.

With all the activity of the road trip, the number of webinars over the past month dropped. Now that I am home again, I am enjoying the Maryland Ornithological Society Convention webinars with my husband. Others are on my calendar for upcoming weeks. There are some that I might watch that were recorded while I was traveling…it’s a bit overwhelming!

Overall, it’s been a good month. I’ve expanded my horizons, but life is not back to the way it was pre-pandemic. There are some aspects that maybe I don’t want back!

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 12, 2021

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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.

Water treatment: Removing hormones with sunlight -- ScienceDaily – Research to find and remove micropollutants. Micropollutants have become more concerning over the past few years as research has shown the potential for health impacts.

Which processed foods are better than natural? - BBC Future – Processed foods are not all unhealthy. Some are better than fresh (for example, canned tomatoes, pasteurized milk). But watch out for ultra-processed foods – ones derived from foods and additives; they can alter gut bacteria, cause inflammation….and many people have a tendence to overeat ultra-processed food.

Top 25 birds of the week: endemic birds – Birds found only in a small area of the world…and no where else. My favorite is the Bee Hummingbird – smallest hummingbird in the world and only found in the Cuban archipelago.

Dietary cocoa improves health of obese mice; likely has implications for humans -- ScienceDaily – Hmmm…maybe my 2 squares of dark chocolate for 1st breakfast is not a bad thing at all…even though I am not obese.

Chipmunk Quest – We have had chipmunks around our house periodically. They are fun to watch. They seem to taunt our cat through the window!

Why Bald Eagle Populations Soared in the Last Decade | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – A good news story of species recovery.

Europe’s Drive to Slash Plastic Waste Moves into High Gear – Hope similar efforts are made in the US. As an individual, it is hard to avoid single-use plastic although I have made an effort to avoid plastic shopping bags and buy products in paper/metal rather than plastic when that is an alternative.

Move Over, Cicadas: 5 Other Great North American Wildlife Hatchings (and Emergences) – The Brood X cicada emergence is beginning to wane in our area….it was interesting to think about other emergence type events. Maybe one of the events mentioned in this article will motivate a road trip in the next year or so.

Tropical species are moving northward in U.S. as winters warm: Insects, reptiles, fish and plants migrating north as winter freezes in South become less frequent -- ScienceDaily – Shifts already observable…others projected.

Report exposes power gap at US universities – Only one in ten top-earning faculty members is a woman.

Home Again – Day 2

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The second day I was back – I was still exhausted but forged ahead. I started the day with a 6:30 AM trek to the grocery store to restock the refrigerator with fresh veggies and almond milk and eggs which my husband doesn’t eat on his own (he claims he gets his fresh veggies in his takeout orders!).

In a intentional move toward pre-pandemic ‘normal’ – I put on earrings after I got back from buying groceries (I had stopped wearing them during the pandemic; afraid of the mask dislodging them or getting tangled)…wearing ones my daughter had gotten me for Mother’s Day.

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My husband had made our taco filling recipe a few days before I returned home and we both enjoyed leftovers for lunch. I picked up some blue corn chips with my groceries and ate my serving as a dip. I extended my serving with some sauteed mushrooms and tomatoes…put some chess on top.

I ordered a summer dress for an upcoming wedding and a smaller docking station for my laptop (responding to the bulk and clumsy configuration of the larger docking station I already have). I also ordered some wool dryer balls since my daughter has found them to be effective. It felt good to follow up on lessons learned from my road trip…start preparing for the next one.

In the early afternoon, I walked around the yard to photograph the periodic cicadas that have emerged this year. This is the third time we have experienced it…the second time in this house. I had seen their bumbling flight in the trees from my office window. At ground level, I zoomed in on the insects in the grass or crawling up tree trunks. There seemed to be a lot of sheds in our cherry tree. Enjoy the slide show of the best cicada pictures from around the yard!

Springfield, Missouri Yard

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My daughter and son-in-law recently bought and moved to their first house…one with a beautiful yard. At first, I enjoyed the yard from the sunroom in the early morning before the moving activities began. All the windows are screened so the pictures are not great --- I was thrilled to see the hummingbird (probably a ruby-throated) and a woodpecker (probably a downy). It appeared that a pair of cardinals were nesting in a cedar. There were squirrels and bunnies around as well. Later the pea plants my son-in-law is growing for a project were moved from their rental house and were put on the brick patio where they would get some sun for part of the day.

I walked around the yard on a subsequent day and took pictures that I could label with the trees/scrubs I could easily identify…and then more detailed pictures. The backyard has a decorated gate…and lots of great plantings. We learned from a neighbor that the owner before last was a Master Gardener…and many of the plantings from that time have endured! The dogwood was already growing seeds. There were swamp irises still blooming and some other plants with lots of buds that I wasn’t sure what they are, but I anticipate some native perennials that will be good for pollinators. The holly was blooming. There are a lot of evergreens and ferns in the space between the house and the neighboring house. I’ll document the evergreens there during a winter visit.

The side and front yard have the largest trees: Southern Magnolia, Oak, and River Birch. The magnolia was shedding more leaves than usual after some extreme cold last winter…but it had lots of buds and is starting to bloom. The maples and redbuds (in back and front) are smaller; all of them have produced many seeds this year. There are two types of native hydrangeas (wood in the back and oak leaf in the front).

Even the edges of the driveway are scenic. There are brick walkways in every direction from the drive into the yard; they are littered with magnolia leaves. Even the water spigot is special. Some miniature roses were just starting to bloom in the bed between the garden room and the driveway as they moved into the house…with lots of buds.

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The house is great…the yard is amazing. What a wonderful home!

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 5, 2021

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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.

Infographic: Animals of Different Species Hybridize | The Scientist Magazine® - Hybrids that fill a new environmental niche.

Britain’s Medieval Population Suffered From Cancer - Archaeology Magazine and Cancer rates in medieval Britain were around ten times higher than previously thought, study suggests | University of Cambridge – The same story from two sources. Cancer rates prior to the modern tumor-inducing chemicals from industry and tobacco were higher than previously thought.

Cities Have Distinct Microbial Signatures: Study | The Scientist Magazine® - Samples collected between 2015 and 2017 in transit stations in major cities. More than 4,000 known species…and 14,000 species that had DNA sequences not found in any database!

Top 25 birds of the week: Resident Birds! - Wild Bird Revolution and Top 25 birds of the week: Bird Biodiversity! - Wild Bird Revolution – So many bird pictures! I’m doing a little catching up this week.

The Blooming Mid-Atlantic – Near where I live…places I have been for vacation/birding.

Photography In The National Parks: Seeing The Forest For The Trees – A little lesson in photographing forests and trees and leaves from Rebecca Lawson

Greenland glacial meltwaters rich in mercury -- ScienceDaily – The study looked at nutrients in glacier melt…not expecting to find the high level of mercury. Now there are lots of questions about the potential impact on fishing – Greenland’s primary industry.

The nature reserve with a 500-year plan - BBC Future – Zealandia, an ecosanctuary in Wellington, New Zealand enclosed by a 5.3-mile predatory exclusion fence.

Arizona’s Meteor Crater – Another place I’ve visited… as seen by an instrument on Landsat 8.

Cicadas Fall Prey to a Psychedelic-Producing Fungus That Makes Their Butts Fall Off | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – I think I saw one with a white butt on my first walk around my yard!

Ten Little Celebrations – May 2021

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After being at home in Maryland for over a year, May was spent is 2 different environments – Texas and Missouri. The celebrations this month are like other months…with the change in setting making them unique.

Little blue heron. Seeing a juvenile little blue heron (at Josey Ranch Lake) was unexpected…such a beautiful bird to celebrate.

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Cherry crisp for breakfast. I had intended to make the dessert for a after-the-fact celebration of my Dad’s 90th birthday. Instead we ate it for breakfast (warm and fresh from the oven) with ice cream….with a side of little sausages to the side for protein. Yummy!

Tree trimming. My parents got their trees trimmed prompted by a broken branch that needed to be cut before it fell. The crew did an excellent job and left them the larger branches cut into fireplace lengths to dry for next winter. Plus - there are some even larger pieces that will make excellent stands for pots in my sister’s yard. The city yard refuse truck came and took the first big pile of small branches about mid-way through the trimming and took the rest the next week. We all celebrated that the job was done quickly and was interesting to watch.

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Mother’s Day. I celebrated my mother (that I was visiting) and my own motherhood (with my daughter later in the month). The mother-daughter thread is a precious one.

Shampooing hair. I celebrated when my mother still shampooed her own hair – realizing that as we get older, celebrating what we can still do is healthier than grieving for things we cannot.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake. Doesn’t everyone celebrate when the cake is flipped…the pan lifted off…and it looks so great on the plate? I made it for a belated birthday for one of my sisters.

Rebuilt swan’s nest. The swans’ nest at Josey Ranch Lake was flooded by a deluge of rain…. they were frantic immediately afterward but quickly rebuilt. I celebrated the resilience of nature.

Getting to Springfield. After driving in mist/rain and road constructions between Carrollton TX and Springfield MO, I celebrated getting to my destination: my daughter and son-in-law’s house they had purchased the day before.

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Pineapple whip. My daughter and I enjoyed the Springfield unique treat on a hot afternoon. I got mine in a cup swirled with blueberry whip. Tasty! A great way to celebrate a break in the moving activity.

Competent movers. The move was only a few blocks….and most of it was done via loads in our cars. The larger furniture was moved by a crew of three. I celebrated that we were able to make the arrangements quickly, that they were on time, worked quickly and competently….and that I didn’t have to help move any of those heavy pieces!

Zooming – May 2020

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I was in Texas for more than a month; all the zoomed pictures for May 2020 are from Carrollton TX (either at my parents’ house or nearby). The usual subjects – plants and birds dominate but there is an occasional squirrel or insect….and the big claw picking up branches after the trees were trimmed. It was good to finally be able to see my family again after more than year – be in place other than my house. Wherever I am, there always seems to be something to observe and photograph. Enjoy the slideshow!

Josey Ranch Swan Rebuilds

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I went back to Josey Ranch Lake (Carrollton, TX) a few days after seeing the drowned swan nest – and discovered that the pair had rebuilt – higher this time – and one was sitting on the nest (maybe they already had a new egg)!

The other swan was out on the lake – showing off a bit.

My 90-year-old father was with me…enjoying looking through binoculars to see the swans and other birds as well as wildflowers. There were pigeons and grackles and mallards that are always around. The mallards were on the bank dabbling in the muddy areas of the grass. A male red-winged black bird made a lot of noise in a tree….making him easy to locate. Dad discovered that it was easier for him to hold the binoculars steady when he was sitting on one of the park benches.

The little blue heron was in the same place I had seen it last time and it appears that it is injured (wing)…benefiting from being close to the swans’ nest (the swans will drive away most predators) but it won’t last long if the injury won’t heal.

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I saw a bird flush as a jogger went by and managed to zoom in to where it landed on a grassy berm. A killdeer! My dad couldn’t find it with the binoculars; the birds blend in very well. Once I looked away…I didn’t find it again with my camera either!

Getting ready to leave Texas….glad to see the swans on a new nest!

Gleanings of the Week Ending May 29, 2021

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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.

How COVID is changing the study of human behavior – Hopefully we are learning something beneficial in the long run from the pandemic….there are also some very depressing aspects of our society that the pandemic has highlighted (that are negative for at least the near term).

Top 25 birds of the week: Bird Migration – I am missing the birds I see most during migration times in Maryland this year since I am in Texas.

Kestrel Cam: A Story from Egg to Falcon – Moving from the 25 pictures…to a detailed picture of a small falcon’s life beginning.

Climate change threatens one-third of global food production – We have lots of reasons to make changes…to stop mistreating our planet and let it recover. This is another one.

Saint Petersburg Keeps the Sea at Bay – A big project started in 1979 and operational in 2011…built to withstand a storm surge from the Baltic Sea of 5 meters.

Thirteenth-Century Angkor was home to more people modern Boston – I was surprised….recent studies have shown other ancient population centers were more populous that previously estimated too.

How cities will fossilize – From BBC Future. Thought provoking…using Shanghai Tower as an example to illustrate what could happen.

Flashy plants draw outsize share of scientists’ attention – ‘Aesthetic bias’ when it comes to choices for research (and probably extends beyond plants).

New Monarch butterfly breeding pattern inspires hope – Signs that the monarch butterflies in the western US might be adapting to changing climate. It’s good to see a little positive news about monarchs.

Egyptian Archaeologists Accidently Discovers 250 Ancient, Rock-Cut Tombs – Still new sites to study even in a country that has been intensively studied for many years. This time the tombs are not ‘royal’ – may provide more insight into how ordinary people lived in ancient Egypt.

Josey Ranch Lake After a Heavy Rain

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I headed over to Josey Ranch Lake (Carrollton, TX) late in the day when the heavy rain finally stopped. Lots of water was still running off into the storm drains on the streets during the short drive; I avoided the curbside lane when I could. My goal was to see if the nesting mute swans at the lake had a cygnet.

When I got there, one of the swans was out on the lake – doing a lot of preening.

As I got closer to the area of cattails where the nest was located, there was a sheen of water running over the sidewalk and part of the boardwalk was under water. The white blob in the cattails is the second swan.

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I zoomed in on the blob. The camera focused on the cattails, but the second swan is identifiable. There is a second bird in the picture too…more about that one later.

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I walked further around on the paved bike path, stepping around the drifts of silt and trying not to splash water into my shoes. I found a little better vantage point to watch the second swan. The bird was picking up soggy sticks and dried cattail leaves…trying to pile them up again…frantically moving about as the vegetation sank into the water. Oh no! There must have been about 6 inches of water where the nest had been. The nest had been flooded. No cygnet…no egg…no nest.

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The bird that had been on the lake moved onto the bank still preening. The two birds were responding to the stress of the nest flooding very differently. I wondered which one was the male and which was the female. Was it early enough in the season that they will build another nest and try again?

 Now for the other bird that was near the swans’ nest – a juvenile Little Blue Heron that I had seen previously at the lake. It was standing in the cattails…observing the scene. It had more blue feathers since I saw it a few weeks earlier. The color of the beak and eye ring looks very striking on this young bird. As I looked at my pictures of the bird on my larger monitor, I wondered if the bird had a damaged wing or if it was simply wet. I’ll have to go to the lake again before I leave Texas to find out.

There were a few Mallard Ducks. It appears they already have 4 young with them….juvenile size rather than ducklings! They were on the shore rather than in the water the whole time I was there.

Rounding out the birds I noticed but didn’t take time to photograph - pigeons and grackles. There were people venturing out for exercise; some had already made it around the lake and commented about the water gushing from the dam on the other end. Others arrived while I was there. It was a quick outing. I was sad about the swan’s nest…. felt privileged to observe the birds’ response to their tragedy from a distance.

Missed seeing the Indigo Bunting in my Maryland Yard

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My husband saw an indigo bunting on our deck on two days recently. On the first day he got a picture of the back of the bird – enough that Merlin could provide the id.

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He was more prepared for the second visit….got a picture of the bird snacking at our feeder.

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Last year seeing the indigo buntings and other birds returning in the spring, helped me during the highest COVID-19 death days in Maryland (April-May 2020). This year – not being there to see them – is making me homesick. After staying at home as much as possible from March 2020 to mid-April 2021, it has been quite a change to be away from home for over a month. I’ve savored the change of scenery and seeing my family again but am conscious that I am missing the details of the area in and around my house in Maryland. My husband is helping with occasional pictures…like these of the indigo bunting.

Gleanings of the Week Ending May 22, 2021

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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 -May 2021 – Starting out the gleanings list with bird photographs!

Why cats love to sit in boxes – even fake ones – All of our cats have liked sitting in boxes….it was fun to see some research showing that even the 2D shape is appealing to them!

An incomparable intellectual who fell through the cracks of history – A woman, of course. In this case it was Robert Boyle’s older sister, Katherine Jones, Lady Ranelagh.

Strange and surprising facts about Opossums – The only marsupial north of Mexico. Odd look and behavior.

Irish farmer stumbles onto ‘untouched’ ancient tomb – Turning over a rock and finding a stone-lined passageway!

Ancient pottery reveals the first evidence of honey hunting in prehistoric West Africa – Analysis of potsherds from Central Nigeria revealed that around 1/3 of the pots they came from were used for processing or storing beeswax! The pieces of pottery are from the 1st millennium BC.

Big Spring Lodge, Cabins Rehabilitation Lags at Ozark National Scenic Riverways – I hope the project now planned to start in the fall gets completed on time. The place would be a good vacation destination for us since my daughter lives in Missouri.

You are how you cook – Research on the cooking methods in different parts of China and the relationship to the type of grains utilized over time. The areas that boiled/steamed food tended to use millet over wheat or barley since the later two grains take longer to cook by that method.

Fighting dementia with play – A pilot study with a game consisting of a screen and floor panel with four fields that measure steps, weight displacement and balance….users attempt a sequence of movements with their feet requiring physical and mental skills. The pilot was promising. Perhaps these types of games will become one of the strategies to enable people to handle daily life longer.

Meet Benjamin Banneker, the black scientist who document brood x cicadas in the late 1700s – Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum are close to where I live in Maryland. I’ve been there several times (posted about it in March 2015 and December 2018, but hadn’t realized that noting the periodic cicadas was one of his numerous observations.