eBotanical Prints – October 2020

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20 new items added to the collection in October and, like September, they are all volumes of Annals of Botany. The Biodiversity Heritage Library has the volumes fully available from 1888 (when the publication started) until 1923; the access page has a pull down to select the volume of interest. I finished the series in October and am thrilled to be looking at some very different individual works already in November. By the end of the series, it seemed like I needed to just slog through to the last one. The images in the Annals were for research and I found myself looking at them more as starting points for Zentangle pattern development than as botanical prints.

The whole list of 2002 books can be accessed here. Sample images and links for the 20 new ones are provided below. (click on the sample image to see a larger view). Enjoy!

Annals of Botany V20 (1906) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1906

Annals of Botany V21 (1907) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1907

Annals of Botany V22 (1908) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1908

Annals of Botany V23 (1909) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1909

Annals of Botany V24 (1910) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1910

Annals of Botany V25 pt1 (1911) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1911

Annals of Botany V25 pt2 (1911) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1911

Annals of Botany V26 pt1 (1912) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1912

Annals of Botany V26 pt2 (1912) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1912

Annals of Botany V27 (1913) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1913

Annals of Botany V28 (1914) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1914

Annals of Botany V29 (1915) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1915

Annals of Botany V30 (1916) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1916

Annals of Botany V31 (1917) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1916

Annals of Botany V32 (1918) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1918

Annals of Botany V33 (1919) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1919

Annals of Botany V34 (1920) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1920

Annals of Botany V35 (1921) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1921

Annals of Botany V36 (1922) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1922

Annals of Botany V37 (1923) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1923

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 31, 2020

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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.

What’s That Cloud? Your Guide to Cloudspotting – A little tutorial. Maybe a prompt to do some cloud photography too.

This white paint keeps surfaces cooler than surroundings, even under direct sunlight -- ScienceDaily – I remember being at White Sands National Park on a hot day and walking on the sand barefoot (i.e. the sand was not hot!). Hopefully the architectural norms will begin to shift toward white roofs and then durable paints/shingles will be readily available to make it affordable. The heat islands of cities would be reduced…which could be helpful now and an increasing benefit as climate change continues.

Google Maps Gets More Electric-Car Friendly – Android Auto (not the phone app) adding features.

Top 25 birds of the week: Land-birds - Wild Bird Revolution – Enjoy bird images!

NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft successfully touches asteroid -- ScienceDaily – We went down to Florida for the launch back in 2016 so I try to at least scan articles with updates. The sample is now safely stored away and will be heading back to Earth…arriving in 2023.

Why older people are harder to vaccinate - BBC Future – What vaccines can do…what they might not do. For example – did you know that the flu vaccine reduces disease but does not do much to reduce transmission because a vaccinated person can still shed virus particles?

Black Witch Moths: A Night-Time Trick or Treat – Because it’s Halloween….it will be a very quiet one this year with the regular form of trick-or-treating called off in our area.

The rats evicted from paradise - BBC Future – A positive result for humans correcting a problem we caused….only able to succeed because of the resilience of nature (and because we corrected before it was too late for recovery).

Flowers Are Changing Color in Response to Climate Change | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – Adjusting UV pigmentation to protect themselves (rising temperatures/thinning ozone)…maybe confusing pollinators.

Nature Nerd Trivia: Wild Canids – Dog relatives from around the world.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Firsts for the season at our deck. We saw our first Dark-eye Junco for the season. A small flock has spent the winter in our area – frequently visiting our feeder – for many years. We think they go to the Appalachians/Alleghenies for the rest of the year rather than the far north.

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I finally managed to get a picture of a Red-breasted Nuthatch enjoying the seed spilled under our feeder. There were other times recently that I thought I saw one but was never fast enough with my camera.

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Hawai’i Island Festival of Birds Swag pack arrived. It took more than 10 days for the small envelope to get from Hawai’i to Maryland. I don’t know for sure how long it took because there was no postmark. I will use the field notebook (upper left, a nice fit for one of my photo vest pockets) and the magnet (lower right) is already on our refrigerator to remind us of the virtual festival…and we’ll sign up to go to the festival when it is held ‘in person’!

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Marguerite Henry

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I was browsing through children’s books available on Internet Archive and encountered a familiar name: Marguerite Henry. My family discover her Misty of Chincoteague book back in the 1990s when my daughter was at the perfect age to enjoy the story; during one of our visits to Chincoteague, we purchased a set that included the book and some of the sequels. One that I had not seen before was A Pictorial Life Story of Misty. It can be borrowed for an hour from Internet Archive…and since it is mostly pictures…that’s plenty of time to browse through it.

The author wrote a lot of other books and quite of few of them are available on Internet Archive – mostly for an hour checkout and, if there is another copy available, it will show as available for a 14 day checkout after it has been initially checked out for an hour.

One of my favorites of these ‘other’ books was Brighty of the Grand Canyon.

I also enjoyed Auno and Tauno – a Story of Finland – which was one that was available without checking out. The illustrator was Gladys Rourke Blackwood who, according to Wikipedia, illustrated some other Henry books.

The stories are dated at this point…but I enjoy the historical perspective – directly from the book and thinking about children enjoying the books when they were written and for 20+ years after. Misty of Chincoteague was published in 1947 – and my daughter and I were enjoying it in the 1990s and I assume the book is still stocked in books stores around Chincoteague! It has remained ‘current’ because the Pony Penning depicted in the book still happens annually.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

A wet day. There was a lot of rain from Zeta in Maryland on Thursday. There were flood warnings from 11:30 AM to 5:30 PM; we didn’t get out and our neighborhood had no flooding, so it didn’t impact us directly. And the wind was not bad either. We still have a few leaves on our trees.

Ten Little Celebrations – October 2020

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When I wrote the blog post about October 1990, I realized what a happy month it had been and now looking back at October 2020 and the things I recorded as little celebrations…the same is true. Maybe October is always my favorite month of the fall….lots of things that make me happy in this transition time of the year.

The celebrations that are could happen in any October:

The grand finale of the CSA season. The abundance of the last weeks of veggies from the farm….I have a freezer full to enjoy well into November…plenty of winter squash puree to make Thanksgiving dessert and breads and soups (maybe not all for the same meal). It happens every year….the celebration of the bounty.

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Conwingo outing. We didn’t know about the bald eagles congregating at Conowingo dam 30 years ago, but now that we do…there is almost always a trek to the place every October. Even if it isn’t a great day for lots of eagles (which it wasn’t this year)…we celebrate the field trip. This year it was appreciated even more because field trips have been such a rarity for us this year.



Fall leaves. Yes – cleaning up the leaves and acorns is a fall chore…but it also is a joy: the colors, the textures, the breeze made visible by leaves wafting from the treetops. The trees in our yard and in the forest behind our house fill our views; I’m realizing that I am celebrating the extra time I’ve had this year to observe them. Home has become more special during this pandemic year.

Wild turkey in our back yard. I missed it – but my husband saw it. He said there may have been more than one, but he only saw one clearly. We’d heard that there were wild turkeys in the forest but had never seen any until a few day ago. I am celebrating that they really exist…and hoping they return so I can see them too.

Flowers still available in the cutting garden. I thought the cutting garden might fade before the CSA ended…but it didn’t. I love having cut flowers in my office and on the island in the kitchen. Seeing them is an automatic mood brightener. Now I am beginning to realize that the strawflowers will last long into the winter – dried and arranged on a blue glass plate they remind me of water lily flowers.

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Letting go of more stuff. Cleaning out stuff that has collected in over 25 years we’ve lived in our house is tough. But I managed a big pile that I donated (picked up from our front porch) and am working on another. It feels good to clean out the house…particularly if it is something others could use.

And then there are the celebrations that are unique to 2020:

Cape May Fall Festival (virtual). I celebrated the whole festival of videos but particularly the roving reporters at the morning flight of songbirds. It would be wonderful be there some future year to see it in the field.

Hawai’i Festival of Birds (virtual). When I first discovered that the festival was going virtual, I thought it was a great opportunity because I probably would not make the trek to the Big Island again….but now I’m wavering…leaning toward making the trek for the festival and to see how things have changed since we were there in 2015. Maybe next year…or the year after. It’s an opportunity to celebrate an environment very different than the one where we live.

Telephone conversations with family. I normally take telephone conversations for granted…they happen often enough. During this pandemic year when I am not traveling to visit with my family, phone conversations have increased in importance….worthy of celebration.

Voting. In years past, we voted but it wasn’t something that made it to my little celebrations list and we usually did it on election day. This year we requested a mail-in ballot and returned it to a drop box….and checked the online site to track that it was received and accepted/counted. Voting is a celebration this year because of the challenges the country is facing on many levels….and a heightened awareness on our part of how much it matters.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Old monitor heading off to a new home. I’ve had my old monitor mostly idle for the past year – since I got a new one – and finally found a way to give it a new home. There was an article in the Baltimore Sun about a teacher in our area trying to find monitors for teachers that need a second monitor as they forge ahead teaching virtually. I sent an email letting them know I had one to donate and someone came to pick it up! I’m thrilled to let it go!

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 23, 2020

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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.

Painless paper patch test for glucose levels uses microneedles -- ScienceDaily – A technology (microneedles) looking for a problem to solve (prediabetic testing). So far - it’s just a lab exercise but they were readying for human trials. They didn’t explain why it was focused on pre-diabetic testing and not for diabetics.

Top 25 birds of the week: Non-migratory – Beautiful birds…always a visual treat.

These are some of America’s most beautiful urban parks – The one in Greenville, SC looked very non-urban!

Food mechanics recipe to serve up healthy food that lasts -- ScienceDaily – Basic research in plant-tissue response to heat and drought…preserving food through drying.

Doing Something About Global Warming Is Cheaper Than Doing Nothing – I selected a series of gleaning for this week that are focused on various aspects of climate change – with a mix of perspectives. This is the first one. For the pure capitalists…this one makes the argument for action in their terms. This first article came out back in September…so it is a little dated…but still makes some good points.

The daring plan to save the Arctic ice with glass - BBC Future – Do we want to consider Geoengineering?

40% of O'ahu, Hawai'i beaches could be lost by mid-century -- ScienceDaily – Sea level rise…and our response to it.

6 Graphics Explain The Climate Feedback Loop Fueling US Fires – Some good graphics about the fires on the west coast of the US. In recent days, fires in Colorado have been added to the news. At a time when forests sequestration of carbon is important for the health of the planet….the fires are reversing that benefit.

Natural Debate: Do Forests Grow Better With Our Help or Without? - Yale E360 – Hurray for natural regeneration – unless the land is too degraded for that to be possible…then our help is needed.

The Best Places for Solar Power If You Want to Clean The US Grid – Where investing in solar power would do the most toward reducing grid emissions…by state.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

A busy morning. The only extra activity I’d planned yesterday morning was to get my car washed since the dirt road into the CSA is history for the year. The car is cleaner (at least on the outside) than it has been for months! The weather was so great when I got back that I swept the leaves from the driveway, street gutter, and deck onto the yard so that the mower would mulch them when my husband mowed later in the day. When I got back inside – I noticed my husband had called from the vet parking lot saying his battery was too low to start his car (and the vet had resolved the cat’s bleeding claw issue)….so I was off to help that car situation. We managed to get home just in time to cook lunch. The level of activity was greater than any recent morning (months and months of mornings!) …and I felt a little discombobulated! I’ve begun to enjoy the pace of pandemic life!

Browsing Old Architectural Record Volumes

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Browsing through The Architectural Record volumes from the late 1800s and early 1900s available on Internet Archive, there are some articles that capture my attention – for example, two articles about Frank Lloyd Wright. The first one is in the volume for 1908 which features the Dana House (along with other houses and a building). The architecture still looks ‘modern.’ For some info about the Dana House today: Frank Lloyd Wright Trust and Dana Thomas House Foundation.

The second article was in the January-July 1913 volume – about Wright’s studio-home in Wisconsin. Enjoy the slideshow of the exterior of the place. For info about the place today see the Taliesin page on the Wright in Wisconsin page.

Another series of pictures I noticed were exterior pictures of the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina (starting at page 154) in the 1895-1896 volume as introductory picture series to the article “The works of the late Richard M. Hunt” – the architect of the house. The landscape was ‘new’ around the house when the pictures were taken. For information about Biltmore today, see Biltmore Estate website and the Wikipedia page.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Going for groceries in the foggy dark. It’s that time of year – at 6:15 AM it is dark. Add the fog and the short drive would have been disorienting if the route were unfamiliar. I was worried about not seeing a deer at the edge or in the road before it was too late – fortunately, I made it to the grocery store without incident. I have skewed my grocery shopping time an hour earlier during the pandemic…so I am going to be ‘in the dark’ starting out for groceries for months. It was lighter on the way home, but the fog was still around.

Ballot ‘accepted.’ I checked the website for the status of the ballot I put in the drop box on Oct. 5th and it shows that it is ‘accepted’ – which means that it’s been counted! It’s great to get confirmation that I voted successfully.

Haircut. My last haircut was in January, so it was long overdue. There were a few people allowed into the shop (no waiting area and appointments only), the doors were open (outdoor temperature was pleasant), and everyone wore masks. I chose not to get a shampoo, so my hair was just sprayed to wet it…and then it was cut. My husband got his haircut at the same time. We were done in about 20 minutes. My husband gave a tip that doubled the cost of our haircuts…reasoning that the workers are still trying to bounce back from the shop being closed for 3 months.

Images of Bridges – October 2020

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I gleaned paintings/photographs of bridges from the slideshow collections I enjoyed from Internet Archive back in June….as a themed perspective into 8 artists. Clicking on the artists name will access the slideshow on Internet Archive (i.e. more than just bridges!).

The artists were capturing moments of the world in which they lived. Bridges are part of the architecture they observed. The materials were varied – stone, steel, concrete, wood – depending on the time, place, and function of the bridge. I noticed that the bridges were either empty or painted with people (except for one that includes cattle and a man riding a horse). In one a person is walking in the rocky creek under the bridge.

Enjoy the color and beauty of these bridges!

Gustave Caillebotte (1848 - 1894)

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Hawai’i Island Festival of Birds

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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.

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

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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!

30 Years Ago – October 1990

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Looking back through pictures and notes from 30 years ago – it was a happy month…but full of big changes that my family handled better than we’d anticipated. I went back to work full time…straight into to proposal team that required full time in the office plus some work at home time. I had just set up an office of my own at home the month before…was still using the IBM PC AT that was over 5 years old. My daughter was already trying to help. Note that I didn’t have a rolling chair yet. We purchased two that month for my husband and I (evidently after the picture was taken) and we still have them!

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My planning wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough that we all felt like things were going well. I made pumpkin muffins several times during the month since they were tasty snacks (or mini-meals) that we all enjoyed. And made meal plans each week for my daughter’s lunches packed for day care and our dinners.

My husband and I were thrilled that she took her first steps with us rather than in day care late in September…and then she was off and climbing. Even though we thought we had baby-proofed the house…but we had typical calamities of her running into her indoor tree house face first, hitting her head on the foot board of the bed while climbing up, and almost tilting over the back of her little rocking chair.

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We all enjoyed the fall foliage day trip to Catoctin with her riding in the backpack more than walking around. When we got her out to walk around in the leaves, they were deep enough to be at least knee deep for her…and she didn’t want to move around in them!

I was busy making the rounds of yard sales to stock up on larger clothes for her and found some bargains. Most of her clothes were bought used but I couldn’t resist a new green velveteen dress with a big white color that she wore for several holiday pictures in the coming months…and it got handed down to her cousins after it got too small for her…and probably sold at a yard sale 10 years or so later.

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 17, 2020

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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: October 2020 – Starting out the weekly gleanings with birds.

Linking calorie restriction, body temperature and healthspan -- ScienceDaily – Interesting research. I went off on a tangent thinking about “up to half of what we eat every day is turned into energy simply to maintain our core body temperature.” Many people in the developed world spend the majority of time in temperature-controlled buildings or homes…and that means we probably expend a lot less calories warming or cooling ourselves than we did prior to efficient heating and cooling systems. Just one more way we are changing our environment in a way that will tweak our future evolution.

The super-adaptable chimps that can withstand climate change - BBC Future – I didn’t realize how many different habitats chimpanzees are found in…and that the ones that live in environments with greater seasonal change have more varied behaviors to respond to those changes than chimps that live in an environment that doesn’t change much.

Environmental Education Goes Virtual: Creating Meaningful Learning Opportunities at Home: The National Wildlife Federation Blog – So many good online resources…they’ve been developed over years but are probably getting a lot more use during this pandemic year.

It's Tarantula Season At Bandelier National Monument – I’ve not been to Bandelier during tarantula season! The last time I was there was in March 2005 and that was before I started taking a lot of pictures….this article reminded me that I want to go again. Maybe we’ll plan to go in the fall and be on the look out for the male tarantulas trying to find a mate. Here are a couple of pictures my husband took when we visited in 1980!

Are we living at the 'hinge of history'? - BBC Future – It’s difficult not to look at current trends and think the future will be a dystopian one with or without seeing this as a ‘hinge.’ The last paragraph was the best of the article: “So, while we do not know if our time will be the most influential or not, we can say with more certainty that we have increasing power to shape the lives and well-being of billions of people living tomorrow – for better and for worse. It will be for future historians to judge how wisely we used that influence.”

Why is America Running out of water? – Shortages are not everywhere…but there are places in the US that are already problematic…and there are a lot of people living in those areas.

Raptor Rescue: When Bird Injuries Warrant Rehab – This article was a good summary of things I’ve heard about before re injured birds.

Unusual climate conditions influenced WWI mortality and subsequent influenza pandemic -- ScienceDaily – Something new about the 1918 flu…torrential rains and unusually cold temperatures kept Mallard ducks from their normal migration…and thus spread the virus more broadly in the battlefields of the Western Front.

What 'net-zero carbon' really means for cities - BBC Future – Using London as an example: no/fewer cars and all transport EV, less concrete…more timber, buildings reused/retrofit, green roofs and walls, renewable energy, reduced waste through recycling and energy production, urban farms. It’s technology that exists now…and already is being applied…ramped up, of course.

Picturesque Spain – in 1922

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I enjoyed the 200+ pictures of Spain taken by Kurt Hielscher when he traveled the county beginning in the summer of 1914 then throughout World War I when he couldn’t leave. He published the photographs in 1922 in French, Italian and English editions. The books were very successful, and he went on to produce photographic records of Germany, Scandinavian countries, Italy, the Balkans, Austria, and Romania. He was one of the first photographers to make a living producing travel books. World War II curtailed/ended his travels and publications.

The first book – about Spain – is available from Internet Archive here. Hopefully more of his books will become available as eBooks as their copyright expires.

I’ve selected 8 sample images from the book….enjoy a little view into Spain in the early 1900s! (Use the arrows on the sides to move through the photos.)

7 Months in COVID-19 Pandemic

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Today marks the 7th month since the WHO declared the COVID-19 pandemic. I started a monthly post taking stock of the impact on my day to day life back in July (previous posts: July, August, September). Here’s the one for the 7th month!

There were few ‘new’ activities for us in the past month:

Propane taxi. We are using our gas grill again! We were glad the service to get it delivered was available in our area since the pre-pandemic process required a lot of contact with other people to trade in the old tank and get the replacement.

Voting. We would have been voting at this time even without the pandemic but we requested a mail-in ballot and put it in a Maryland drop-box at a nearby early-voting place rather than voting in person. We are checking the ‘status’ online; right now they are listed as ‘received’ and we anticipate that they’ll be ‘accepted sometime after the 12th when our country begins counting.

Conowingo field trip. We ventured out on a short road trip to Conowingo Dam which is a little over an hour from our house. It was the first time since February for an outing like this. It was good to get outdoors in a place other than the immediate neighborhood where we live….and we did some bird photography. It turned out to be very easy to wear our masks the whole time we were out of the car and we had plenty of hand sanitizer. The visitor center was open; everyone wore masks, and the bathrooms were clean/well supplied (as they were pre-pandemic too).

Gathering a pile of stuff to donate…to be picked up from our front porch. Charities are beginning to pick up donations again in our area. I have accumulated a pile of stuff and realize there is a lot more that I am willing to part with. The key decision questions for me are:

  • Have I used it in the past year?

  • Does it give me joy?

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Indian corn on the front door. I put the three ears of Indian Corn we’ve had for years on the front door to provide some seasonal decoration. There are some fall related chores as well like mowing the leaves that are falling. I have ended the work in the flower beds and brush piles to let overwintering critters settle in; most of what’s in the beds will be easy to clear away in the spring when the early spring flowers start to emerge.

Overall the ‘new’ activities, have continued our strategy of choosing low risk ways to go about our lives. There are things that we’ve continued -

  • Cape May Fall Festival (virtual). The fall is full of birding festivals that have gone virtual. The Cape May event was intense and we learned a lot….are all ready to go in person sometime in the future. There are others coming up that we are looking forward to. These have become our alternative to travel during the pandemic.

  • Groceries every other week and CSA pickup every week and curbside pickups. The routines of replenishing our supplies are functional and also provide us an opportunity to leave the confines of our neighborhood. Sometimes I use the opportunity to photograph a sunrise or the plantings at the CSA. As the weather has cooled, wearing a mask has become even easier.

It’s always good to have plans. We’re assuming that the pandemic will be the status quo at least through the end of the year (and probably beyond) and we plan to continue our strategies to reduce our risk. We are also assuming that the area of Maryland where we live will continue to adhere to CDC guidance as well as is happening now.

  • We’ll probably take a few fall foliage road trips like the trip we made to Conowingo – maybe to Catoctin/Cunningham Falls or Dan’s Mountain.

  • At some point we might get a POD container to load up with non-essential furniture and boxed items to make it easier to re-carpet our house as soon as COVID-19 is controlled.

  • And then there are the holidays….with special food and creative ways to enjoy our family even though we will not be in one location.

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 10, 2020

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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.

The mystery of why some vaccines are doubly beneficial - BBC Future – Vaccines have ‘non-specific effects’ that provide benefits beyond keeping individuals from catching a disease. The examples in the article include studies of the measles vaccine in West Africa and the BCG vaccine for tuberculosis.

Meet the Goat Antelopes: Strange, Large Mammals of the Mountains – I remember seeing mountain goats with young in South Dakota in June 1997. My young daughter wanted to climb rocks like the goats! This article is about similar animals from all around the world.

Researchers Say Restricted Human Access At Cape Hatteras National Seashore Benefits Birds – Hurray for management of beaches to allow these birds to successfully raise their young!

The Medieval Archaeological Heritage Of Eastern Andalusia – 10 centuries of Medieval history in one place.

Read All About It: What's New In Home Energy Storage Research – An overview of the state-of-the-art in home energy storage…and important component in the transition to renewable energy.

The surprising dangers of cooking and cleaning - BBC Future – Thinking more about what we put into the air inside our home these days. The houses are better sealed and central heat/air means we don’t open our windows as frequently (if at all).

Record Flooding Threatens Millennia-Old Pyramids in Sudan | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – A part of Ancient Egyptian history in danger…flooding and then looting too.

Top 25 birds of the week: Colours - Wild Bird Revolution  - Can’t pass up the bird photos!

Macro Photos Take Us Inside the Enchanted World of Insects – Highlighting insects now…they are full of surprises. And are challenging to photograph too.

The World's Largest Chocolate Museum Debuts in Switzerland | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – 65,000 square feet of the Lindt Home of Chocolate….includes a production line. There is an animated video in the post since very few of us will get there anytime soon. We can buy Lindt chocolate though.

The Butterflies of the British Isles (ebook)

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I enjoyed browsing through The Butterflies of the British Isles by Richard South on Internet Archive (here). It was published in 1906 by Frederick Warne & Co. – the publisher of Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit.

The butterfly illustrations are excellent with males and females…the different sides of the wings…and caterpillars.

The Camberwell Beauty is familiar to us in North America; we call it the Mourning Cloak. One of the highlights of the illustrations was the inclusion of magnified images of the eggs of most of the butterflies. They are so tiny that most of the time they appear like spheres to us (when we notice them at all) but with the right equipment, they are not all spheres and sometimes the shape is unique enough to identify the species that laid the egg!

Back in 2013, I photographed a Mourning Cloak in our plum tree in early April. It looks so battered that it was probably one that overwintered.

Note: I am finding so many interesting eBooks right now that I’ve decided to do one post per week rather than accumulating 3 for a monthly post. So – enjoy an online book-of-the-week going forward!

Cape May Fall Festival

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Friday through Sunday were three intense days of webinars from New Jersey Audubon’s Cape May Bird Observatory (CMBO): the virtual Cape May Fall Festival We enjoyed their virtual festival last spring as well (posts for day 1, day 2); the organization tweaked a few things for this fall one that made it even better; I noticed the roving reporters out in the field and a little bit longer breaks. The days still started at 7 or 8 AM and ended at 5 or 6 (with one evening session after a 2-hour break). I learned to use the breaks to get up and move!

There is a lot of bird monitoring activity (Avalon Seawatch, Cape May Hawkwatch, and Morning Flight Songbirds) in the fall and the CMBO makes it easy to see the results with the buttons for Real-time Counts via Trektellen on their website(near the bottom of the page).

The weather was perfect for a big morning flight of songbirds on Saturday – 27,000 birds in 6 hours! See the Saturday results here – and check out other days going forward. There were huge numbers of warblers. The little bit larger songbirds that we saw (through the great work of the person filming the roving reporters) were Northern Flickers and Blue Jays (3,538 and 1,496 were counted for the morning). The songbirds migrate at night and are funneled down from points north to the Cape May Peninsula where most of them drop down for food and rest before continuing on – most of them working their way back to the north and west around Delaware Bay to then continue their southward migration.

The Hawkwatch also saw a lot of birds on Saturday (results here). These birds migrate during the day. There were 194 Cooper’s Hawks that came through.

The Avalon Seawatch had a bigger day on Sunday with over 1,000 (each) black scoters and double crested cormorants.

There were places featured in the talks and roving reports that we had seen in Spring 2019 (like South Cape May Meadows, Cape May Bird Observation Deck, Higbee Beach Wildlife Management Area, CMBO’s Northwood Center) and then the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge which was new to us. So many places we would like to be!

There is a also a CMBO Monarch Monitoring Project that tags butterflies! Even though the large winter numbers of Monarchs in Mexico were found in 1975, it was not until 1998 when 7 of Cape May tagged butterflies were found there that the debate of where the east coast Monarchs migrated was finally settled. The results of the monitoring at Cape May are reported in a table on the website.

Virtual sessions are great for classroom type presentations too. At birding festivals, I tend to always opt for the field sessions, so this year of virtual festivals has been great for the classroom-based skill building. I particularly enjoyed learning more about raptor id (in flight), winter seabirds of New Jersey, ravens, other bird observatories (international), international birding tours, and the bird id game done by 3 NJ Audubon’s Young Birder Club members (wow….they have impressive id skills and are good at sharing their knowledge). The Cornell Lab of Ornithology provided the one evening session; I learned about Birds of the World (a new subscription based resource) and more about resources I already know about/use:

One of the sessions brought up the topic of some birds eating Monarch butterflies and seemingly not suffering any effects. My husband and I remembered that we saw that on at a previous birding festival…and I looked back through my blog posts to find out where and when and what kind of bird. It was Couch’s Kingbird on Nov. 11, 2017 and I posted about it on Nov. 27th. It was at a woodlot on South Padre Island, Texas during the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival. I have two of my pictures from that event below. It’s always great to savor the memories of previous sessions an realize how much we seen/learned over the past few years of birding festivals.

Another prompt to think about personal history that was brought up in one of the sessions: What was your ‘spark’ bird (i.e. the one that got you interested in birds)? I tried to think back to birds that I remember from early in my life. Northern Cardinal is one – definitely. They were around in Wichita Falls, Texas….and stand out in any landscape because of their color. I remember some coloring pages from 1st or 2nd grade of various bird species and learning about Baltimore Orioles…but not seeing one until I was over 60 years old! Why didn’t the curriculum feature birds that we were more likely to see where we lived? I also remember being thrilled to see a Roseate Spoonbill the first time I went to Florida for a space shuttle launch in the 1980s; I’m not sure when I first learned about the bird but it was one that I knew when I first saw it in the field.

Overall – the Cape May Fall Festival was 3 days well spent. My husband also ordered the t-shirt for me since it is red ---- a good color for me. We ware looking forward to future festivals that we can enjoy in the field…but learned a lot and enjoyed this one. Kudos to the CMBO for doing this!

eBotanical Prints – September 2020

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19 new items added to the collection in September and they are all volumes of the same publication: Annals of Botany. The Biodiversity Heritage Library has the volumes fully available from 1888 (when the publication started) until 1923; the access page has a pull down to select the volume of interest. I looked at the volumes from 1888 to 1905 in September and will continue through the rest in October. So far – most of the illustrations are more micro oriented than the typical ‘botanical print’ but it’s another aspect of illustration of the botanical world that I want to include in the collection.

The whole list of 1,982 books can be accessed here. Sample images and links for the 19 new ones are provided below. (click on the sample image to see a larger view). Enjoy!

Annals of Botany V1 (1888) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1888

Annals of Botany V2 (1889) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1889

Annals of Botany V3 (1890) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1890

Annals of Botany V4 (1891) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1991

Annals of Botany V5 (1891) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1891

Annals of Botany V6 (1892) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1892

Annals of Botany V7 (1893) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1893

Annals of Botany V8 (1894) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1894

Annals of Botany V9 (1895) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1895

Annals of Botany V10 (1896) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1896

Annals of Botany V11 (1897) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1897

Annals of Botany V12 (1898) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1898

Annals of Botany V13 (1899) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1899

Annals of Botany V14 (1899) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1900

Annals of Botany V15 (1901) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1901

Annals of Botany V16 (1902) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1902

Annals of Botany V17 (1903) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1903

Annals of Botany V18 (1904) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1904

Annals of Botany V19 (1905) * Balfour, Isaac Bayley * sample image * 1905

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Maple tree seedling update. The maple seedling that I pulled from the front flowerbed is still healthy in the window. It’s grown a little - both in the upper stem/leaves and the roots. It will be interesting to see if the leaves turn red at the same time as the red maple outside or if they stay green because it is warmer on my windowsill than outdoors.

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I am still enjoying flower from the CSA cutting garden but they’re probably close to the end. There were not as many to choose from this week and they don’t seem to last as long as cut flowers.

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 3, 2020

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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.

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.

Chinese Teahouse in Newport

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I was browsing through the Architectural Record publication for 1916 (via Internet Archive) and discovered the June issue featured the Chinese Teahouse that I’d seen in Newport RI behind Mable House in 2014. In 1916, it was relatively new – having been added to the Marble House grounds by Alva Vanderbilt Belmont. According to Wikipedia – she hosted rallies for women’s suffrage there.

According to the article in the Architectural Record article, the structural members had lacquered surfaces written in Chinese characters. Two examples:

A woman of strong character is said to be a hero among women.

Women with pretty faces and fascinating manners really may overthrow cities.

How appropriate for this 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage! I’m belatedly disappointed that the teahouse was closed when I visited so I didn’t see them.

Here are a few pictures that I took back in 2014. I think I remember that the Treehouse has been recently renovated at that time and we being used as a place where tourists could get refreshments/take a break from tours of the Newport Mansions.

Zooming – September 2020

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Less that 1000 photos this month…but still enough zoomed images for this post: 16 images. 4 of the images were inside (the stained glass butterfly and the super zoomed flowers). There are 4 butterflies (Common Buckeye, Red Admiral, Palamedes Swallowtail, and Spread-winged Skipper) and a Monarch caterpillar. All 3 birds are somewhat unusual: the Northern Cardinal is a juvenile still begging to be fed by its parents but learning quickly to find seed on our deck, the Blue Jay is contorting itself to get seed from the feeder (the roosts are too close together for him), and the Caroline Wren is tailless. Other animals in our yard or deck are also included: a chipmunk with very fat cheeks and a deer. And lastly are our trees: the sycamore leaves beginning to change against a blue sky after the smoke from the west coast that past over Maryland at 30,000 feet cleared out and an oak leaf that might be an indication that our oak tree has the infection common in our state (and not something we can treat…may eventually kill the tree).

All the pictures were taken at our house or the CSA.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Green tomatoes. I got 2 green tomatoes in the CSA share last week; they have been near the kitchen window since then. One began to turn red almost immediately and the other has stayed green. I’ll make green salsa with the one that is still green (or something else that cooks the green tomato so that it is edible) and let the other one finish turned red to eat like a regular tomato.

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Gleanings of the Week Ending September 26, 2020

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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.

Closing the Racial Inequality Gaps – Citi Global Perspectives & Solutions – The report (summarized by NPR in Cost of Racism: US Economy Lost $16 Trillion Because of Discrimination, Bank Says) details the analysis  done by Citi that calculates the economic impact of racism….and thus puts a value on proposed government and individual actions to close racial gaps.

Top 25 Birds of the Week: Birds in Flight and Bird Interactions – Double the bird photos this week!

Infographic: Dialing Down the Glitz | The Scientist Magazine® - The mechanism that makes dramatic sexual dimorphism in some finches.

How vitamin C could help over 50s retain muscle mass -- ScienceDaily – Another reason to eat Vitamin C rich foods (and take a supplement when that is not possible).

A guide to natural sweeteners – in C&EN – Compound Interest – A good summary of the chemistry behind natural sweeteners. I am enjoying the stevia leaves I am getting from the CSA’s cutting garden right now – building up my supply a little every week of dried leaves and stems to enjoy even after the cutting garden ends for the year.

Schooling is critical for cognitive health throughout life -- ScienceDaily – Boosting cognitive skills early in life not only expands career opportunities and provides progressively higher salaries…it also pushes back the point at which age-related dementia begins to impact a person’s ability to care for themselves. Education is a good long-term investment for everyone.

Study Tracks Geographical Gene Flow and Ancestry in the US | The Scientist Magazine® - Beginning to get deeper genetic studies that might translate to better understanding of risk of disease across sub-populations within the US.

Scientists use fruit peel to turn old batteries into new -- ScienceDaily – Recycling metals from lithium-ion batteries with food waste…an example of the types of processes we need to develop for a circular economy (zero waste).

Hike in Walnut Canyon – A short video of a special place. I first visited in 1971 in the winter. It was memorable. Maybe I’ll go again after the pandemic is over; it’s high enough elevation I’ll make sure I am acclimated before I hike the trail to see the cliff dwellings up close.

The Undoing of US Climate Policy: The Emissions Impact of Trump-Era Rollbacks – Many young people see climate change as a high priority for the government to address….so do I. This research shows that the actions of the last few years have moved the US in the wrong direction. I usually prefer to focus on solutions and what individuals can do….but the government has a roll to play and, right now, it is moving opposite of the way needed.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Letter sweater. I found my 50-year-old letter sweater (academic…not sports) from high school when I cleaned out the coat closet. It still fits! It’s a little chilly today and I am wearing it. I took the letter off years ago but the flap in the pocket has my name embroidered on it. One of the buttons aged differently than the others – looks reddish rather than black. I’ll wear it as a basic black cardigan (with the odd button) in the fall and winter. I made a small pile of some other things in the closet to give away. My pile is big enough now that I am scheduling a pickup from my front porch!

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