Gleanings of the Week Ending May 15, 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: Camouflage – Birds that blend in….a photography challenge sometimes – finding the bird then zoom in enough to make the bird easy to spot.

You Can Now Explore the Louvre's Entire Collection Online | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – Next best thing to being there.

The radical coral rescue plan that paid off – Restoration after Hurricane Iris hit Belize in 2001.

Experimenting with Tucson Night Lights – Streetlights accounted for only 13% of the light visible after midnight….so we need to address other types of lighting to reduce the impact of outdoor lighting. Streetlights have been the easiest to address because they are a single source, and the local government has direct control over them.

1,200-year-old children’s hand prints found in Mexican cave – Made by Mayan children…perhaps made during coming of age ritual…in black handprints at first…then red.

Pileated Visitation – The joy of having a pileated woodpecker around long enough to photograph.

Forget Stonehenge: the first know massive monuments are much older – 6th millennium BC (7,000 years ago) structures on the Arabia Peninsula. Mustatils built as monuments by cattle herders.

Bald Eagle Cams Are Active. Here are the best 4. – It’s the time of year to watch nest cams!

Prairie Ecologist – Photographs of the week – April 23 2021 – Prairie dandelions on different than the dandelions that come up in my yard in Maryland!

Photography in the National Parks: the yin and yang of a composition – A Rebecca Lawson post…beautiful and instructive.

Macro Iris

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As we cut the spent flowers from the clumps of iris around the yard (to keep the plants from expending energy growing seed pods) – we brought the flowers and buds inside for a bouquet on the table.

That bouquet created a great opportunity for macro photography of the ‘beards’ and frills of the petals. They are large enough that my 5x magnifier with light was sufficient to get the magnification I wanted. I experimented with different angles and tried to get at least one view of all the colors in the vase.

I read that pollinators hold onto the beard structure to enter and exit the flower in pursuit of nectar!

High Key Iris

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When I got to Texas the irises were blooming profusely. Now they are about done for the season. On a rainy afternoon I experimented with some indoor photography of some the last of the flowers…in high key mode (backlit, over exposed).

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The flowers are frilly and fragile….lasting a short time once they are open. We cut the spent flowers and let the next bud on the stalk take over the show….until all the buds have opened. The stalks that bloomed outdoors are cut when the flowers are done to keep the plant from expending energy growing a seed pod.

I noticed that some of the flowers smell citrusy.

30 Years ago – May 1991

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May 1991 was a hectic – and traumatic month. One of my sisters experienced a mid-term miscarriage, my husband started a new job (carrying boxes increased his back problem), I was juggling 2 projects for the first half of the month requiring frequent travel to Atlanta, my daughter was exhibiting some ‘terrible twos’ behavior a few months before she was 2 (deciding she didn’t like baths, sometimes refusing to feed herself, taking off at her fastest run across a cemetery, grabbing my glasses from my face), and my computer monitor failed making it impossible to work at home for a few days until we made an emergency purchase of a new one.

On the positive side – my daughter was loving the outdoors. In the early part of the month, she thoroughly explored the back yard – smelling the roses, feeling the branches of the willow sweep over her, and picking some chives flowers to bring inside.

The later part of the month was dry enough that I turned on the sprinkler to water the yard one afternoon….not anticipating how thrilled my daughter would be. She immediately went to play in the spray. It was her first experience with a sprinkler.

Some other firsts that month for her: riding the train at Wheaton Park and an escalator. One of her books had an escalator and she was excited to see and ride a real one.

I was writing letters to family on my computer but sending them snail mail. The books I was reading (airplane rides were prime reading time for me) were mostly used books. I noticed a young child waiting for the bus and worried that my daughter would be doing that in a few years.

Even with all the things that happened over the course of the month – by the end things were looking good for June: husband was settled into new job, one of my projects was done so there was only one ongoing, and we expected visits from 2 of my sisters in June (separate weeks so not an overwhelming prospect!).

Gleanings of the Week Ending Saturday May 8, 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: Seedeaters! – Starting out the gleanings list with bird photographs.

Mapping tree inequality: Why many people don’t benefit from tree cover – Trees are an effective way to reduce the heat island effect within cities (i.e. where there are fewer trees it is hotter). Lower income communities tend to have fewer trees…and thus are hotter. As there are more hot days, the impact is becoming greater. There is also a beauty to trees…each one is an island of nature in a sea of concrete and asphalt. Increasing trees in cities and towns is an investment in physical and mental health!

Roman temple at Egyptian Emerald Mine – In the eastern Egyptian desert. The researchers found 19 coins, incense burners, bronze and steatite figurines, bones, terracotta body parts, and amulets.

Return of Brood X Cicadas – This brood emerges in the area where I live in Maryland. I am not there to see it, but I hope my husband can photograph some emerging cicadas. There should be lots of opportunities!

Invasive Jumping Worms Have Spread to 15 States – This species is in the middle of the country. I haven’t seen any yet in Texas, but they are in the state and my daughter might have them in Missouri. Hopefully, there will be a method to control them soon or the landscape of that area of the country could change…they are a small organism with a big impact.

A Retreat to Catoctin – This park is close  (about an hour) from where I live in Maryland. I’ve been there many times….maybe not often enough.

Hopes and Weeping Trees: What’s up with the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker? – Neat rows of holes in tree trunks? There is a sapsucker around. Sometimes hummingbirds will come to get the sap dribbling out of the holes. I am always pleased to discover a tree that has been visited by a sapsucker; I noticed when I was at Mt. Pleasant this spring that the tree that was convenient to a hiking route for school field trips (pre-pandemic) has been cut down so I will hunt for another one to share with hikers.

Trove of 2,000-Year-Old Bronze Mirrors Found in Ancient Chinese Cemetery – 80 mirrors….ranging from 3-9 inches in diameter. There are other artifacts recovered from the same cemetery….maybe more stories to come as the excavations and analysis of finds continues.

Charting ice from above – The Icebird flights….flying low over ice and open water. What if feels like to be part of the crew.

National Parks Traveler Checklist: Padre Island National Sea Shore – My husband and I have been to parts of the Padre Island National Sea Shore for snippets of time. Our plan to visit in 2017 to see more of the park was cancelled after Hurricane Harvey…maybe we should add it to our post-pandemic travel plans!

Hospital Experience

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Most of my experiences at hospitals is associated with my parents getting older and needing support during hospitalization. A week ago, another one was history. My sister and I organized 24-hour shifts to support a 4 day stay in the hospital (we each had 2 shifts) and now are supporting follow up appointments and at-home PT. It’s a time requiring focus - overcoming a lot of emotion, anxiety, sleeping on somewhat uncomfortable converted couches, and boredom during long waits. My favorite activities to keep the boredom at bay are making Zentangle tiles, reading, and making notes about what is happening/what I was thinking about. I’ll post the tiles I made at the hospital in another post.

Vaccination makes quite a difference in our anxiety about COVID-19; the hospital allowed limited visitors. Mask wearing (except when eating) was required. My KF-94 mask was comfortable for the long hours of wear, but my ears were increasingly tender by the second 24 hours. I was relieved that there was no need for another long duration round of mask wearing. The only time I took my mask off for more than a few minutes in the hospital was once to eat a sandwich in an outdoor picnic area (lots of grackle calls…very windy).

I also took pictures from the hospital room and nearby lobby. There were two rooms last week. The first was in the ICU and on the 7th floor of the hospital. The roof below the window was somewhat decorative and the front of the hospital with the two columns of water was also visible.

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We moved out of the ICU in the middle of the night – up to the 10th floor and to the other end of the hospital. Note the different orientation of the two columns of water.

We had just settled into the new room…drifted off to sleep…when I heard a big noise and realized it was a helicopter. I sat up and saw it landing…noted that it was 2:10 AM…went back to sleep…the patient slept through everything. In the daylight – it was easy to see that the room looked down on the helipad for the hospital!

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The height of the windows provided a good view of the Dallas skyline. I wondered how long it would take for the neat rows of trees planted at the front of the hospital to get big enough to be more forest like.

On my rare forays down to the 1st floor lobby for food – I realized that my favorite art along the long hall was a work that depicts wildflowers of Texas. Many of them have such distinctive shapes that they are identifiable in silhouette.

Overall – the pandemic protocols did make this hospital stay a bit different (masks, limited visitors, less ‘stuff’ coming home) than our previous experience. The fundamental goal happened - the patient got better and came home. That is success.

A few minutes observing – Kale

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When I took my car in for service before I left on my road trip to Texas – I noticed the kale that overwintered in the planters while I was waiting for my car to be driven out of the garage…took a few minutes to photograph the foliage and the flowers.

When I took my car in for service before I left on my road trip to Texas – I noticed the kale that overwintered in the planters while I was waiting for my car to be driven out of the garage…took a few minutes to photograph the foliage and the flowers.

I am realizing that finding little pockets of beauty around me – wherever I happen to be – is something I’ve trained myself to do. In this case I was surrounded by concrete, asphalt, car dealership…but the planters were what I noticed while I waited. The pandemic has probably heightened my need and skill in finding/savoring beauty – often documenting it with some phone photography. It’s one of the coping skills I do almost automatically these days.

Counting Tree Rings

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Determining the age of a tree by counting the growth rings is often easier in theory than in practice. I photographed a stump from a recently cut tree. The rings are clearly visible – no saw marks or decay to complicate the view. But – the stump is not perfectly round and the rings in the most recent years are tightly spaced (i.e. the tree was struggling as it got older…maybe from disease).

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I took zoomed views from various perspectives. How old do you think the tree was?

It’s often easier to use count the rings in tree cookies (cross sections of tree branches less land 5 inches diameter that are round….often less than a decade of growth). This example illustrates the increased challenge counting of rings for the whole tree!

Gleanings of the Week Ending April 30, 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.

This Map Shows You the Odds of Finding a New Species in Your Neighborhood | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – In most of the North America, the odds are small…but there are some hot spots.

How our microplastic waste becomes 'hubs' for pathogens, antibiotic-resistant bacteria -- ScienceDaily – Another way that microplastics cause problems. The material is changing the composition and activity within wastewater treatment sludge.

How your sense of smell predicts your overall health - BBC Future – What about people with chronic stuffy noses from allergies or responses to poor air quality? Wouldn’t nose stuffiness reduce the sense of smell somewhat?

Twin Birth Rates Have Soared Globally in the Last Three Decades | Smart News Science | Smithsonian Magazine – Having children later in life and medically assisted reproduction are thought to be the cause.

Top 25 birds of the week: April 2021! - Wild Bird Revolution – Beautiful birds…I always enjoy the 25 pictures each week.

Discarded Covid-19 Masks and Plastic Gloves Are Killing Wildlife | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – Ugh! I’m always upset if I see PPE litter; disposable of them properly so they don’t escape into the environment. I will be following the suggestions of ‘snipping the straps on disposable masks’ before I put mine in the trash. I haven’t been using gloves…just soap/water and hand sanitizer.

Thurston Lava Tube Open Again at Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park  - I walked this trail! Glad it is reopened for people to enjoy.

Small farms outdo big ones on biodiversity — and crop yields: Research Highlights – Hurray for small farms.

Beaver? Otter? Muskrat? A Field Guide to Freshwater Mammals – Look at the pictures – how many can you identify?

Climate change cut global farming productivity 21% since 1960s -- ScienceDaily – The changing climate has made subtle changes that add up to the impact on farming productivity. Evidently the impact is greatest in areas that were already hotter.  

Browsing Natural History Magazines – March 2021

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I browsed the 1966 to 1984 volumes of The American Museum of Natural History’s magazine available on Internet Archive in March 2021. There will be more browsed in April. I collected a few images from each volume ... all the volumes are well worth looking through.

In 1966, the infographic (I’m sure they didn’t call it that in 1966) about spider webs was well done

And I enjoyed the bird pictures by Basil Ede.

Then there were images if flowers and mushrooms and Persian artifacts…carnivorous plants, flamingoes… that I picked from the 1967 to 1972 volumes (this was the time period I was in grade 7-12).

In 1973 there were seed pods (lotus, magnolia, London Plane)), a small racoon, fall leaves, and a turkey…marking the seasons.

In 1974 to 1977 my image picks are hermit crabs, volvox, Mesa Verde (which my husband I visited during this time), and a frog. My husband got his undergraduate degree and I was working full time/going to college part time.

In 1978 there were some beautiful images of seeds in flight.

1979 included many articles that were interesting to me: skunk cabbage, Pompeii, and the 17-year cicadas.

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In 1980 there was an article about how snakes shed their skin.

The 1981 volume is missing from the Internet Archive collection. In 1982 there were a lot of articles that interested me – about Jack-in-the-Pulpits and lichens…jewel weed and nautiluses….

And then endemic Hawaiian plants and birds. 1982 was the year my husband and I finished our formal schooling…he had a PhD in Physics and I had a MS in Math.

1983 included a great picture of an Egret in Florida…1984 some parasitized caterpillars. 1983 was a pivot year for us because we move away from Texas and to Virginia/Maryland pursuing our careers.

Overall – I enjoy browsing through the annual volumes of this magazine….thinking about what I was doing at the time they were originally published.

Ten Little Celebrations – April 2021

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My whole family has stayed well and the majority are now fully vaccinated….the big celebration for the month (and maybe the whole year).

2nd COVID-19 shot. It felt great to be a part of the potential ‘beginning of the end’ of the pandemic. Celebrating that I managed to not get the virus over the past year…and am now fully vaccinated.

Howard Country Conservancy Volunteering. It is a different type of volunteering than I did before but a little step back to doing outdoor volunteering that I enjoy. Celebrating being at Mt Pleasant in the spring.

Brookside Gardens tulips and wood thrush. Celebrating that I am able to see the springtime gardens this year.

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South Mountain mini roadtrip. Celebrating that I was able to regain my confidence to dive on 70 mph speed limit highways.

Sunrise at Wegmans. Celebrating doing my own in person grocery shopping….at sunrise.

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My daughter bidding on a beautiful house in Springfield. Celebrating my daughter and son-in-law finding a house they both like a lot (they are in the process of buying it now).

Carolina wren singing in the early morning. Every spring the birds are very vocal in our neighborhood. I celebrate hearing – and recognizing – their song.

Getting to Dickson TN. It was a long day of driving – over 13 hours. It was a relief – and celebration – when I finally got to the hotel room! And then getting on the road again a sunrise the next morning.

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Seeing my parents again after more than a year. Celebrating family….coming out of the long distance separation the pandemic caused.

Josey Ranch and the Pocket Prairie. Celebration birds and wildflowers near my parents home.

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Pocket Prairie at Josey Ranch

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My morning walk at Josey Ranch (Carrollton, Texas) started at the Pocket Prairie which is easily accessed from the library parking lot. This is a great time of year for wildflowers. The grasses are high this year and make the wildflowers harder to see; on the plus side – the grasses probably protected the flowers from the colder temperatures over the past week. The insects still find the flowers when the temperatures get warm enough for insects to be active. I was disappointed that the only bluebonnets I saw were ones that has been cut by the weed eater during trail maintenance. There were probably more down in the grass that I missed. There were bluebonnets growing along the interstate from Tyler to Dallas, so they are probably not done with their season yet. I’ll go to the Pocket Prairie again next week.

I left my car parked near the Pocket Prairie when I walked over to the lake (to photograph birds). Along the way, I noticed the grackles all leaving the trees with noise of a train and positioned myself to get a picture of it (and some fishermen). Evidently the trains are not as frequently as they were in years past; I was in accidentally in the right place at the right time!

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Birds at Josey Ranch

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The day was cold and gray but there were a few interesting birds I saw at Josey Ranch (Carrollton, TX). The Boat-trailed Grackles are there every time I’ve visited. The males were constantly posturing and chasing each other. There was a female gathering nest material in front of the library.

There were not many ducks this visit but a group of Canada Geese were making their way from the grassy area to the water and they seemed to be getting drinks as soon as they reached the water (note the head tilt of the bird in the foreground…swallowing the water).

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One goose had a feather sticking straight up on its back – a distinctive look!

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Great Egrets are frequently sighted around the lake.

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One special treat this year – last year’s cattail foliage is flattened rather than still upright which makes the Mute Swans’ nest visible right now (until the new grow gets high enough to hide it). They were both at the nest when I was there. These are not native birds to North America….but they are widespread here and have been at Josey Ranch for years.

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A surprise for me was the juvenile Little Blue Heron that was just beginning to develop adult plumage. It was the most actively feeding bird while I was there, but I didn’t see it catch anything!

Another bird I have seen occasionally at Josey Ranch previously was a Yellow-Crowned Night Heron. If I had not seen it fly into the a stand of cattails, I wouldn’t have see it since it was standing still and seemed to blend with the gray of the day.

Overall – a good group of birds to see in less than 20 minutes!

Road Trip from Maryland and Texas

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The road trip from Maryland and Texas was done in two days…stopping in Dickson TN for the night. It was done on a weekend when I thought the traffic would be lighter. It was a pretty drive with redbuds blooming along the highway. Virginia apparently plants them along the interstate. The dogwoods were beginning to bloom as well. I got through Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, and half through Tennessee on the first day. I tried to take pictures at the rest stops which were all open along the route. Virginia seems to have more frequent ones that the other states.

The adaptive cruise control made the driving easy….until I got into Tennessee and there was an accident that closed the highway. Traffic was stopped for over an hour – no way to detour. It made the day longer and more exhausting. I was glad that the daylight lasted until I was at the hotel. I opted to eat food from the ice chest rather than get a takeout or drive through meal.

The second day drive started at sunrise at the Best Western and ended at my Parents house. The route was through the rest of Tennessee (some fog in the morning), then Arkansas (lots of construction around Little Rock and a huge traffic jam when the construction took the Interstate down to a single lane), and Texas. The rest stops were open except in Arkansas where several were closed.

There was another Interstate closing accident when I was only a hour away from my destination but there was a detour around it that my nav system guided me through – so it only added about 30 minutes to my arrival time.

Overall – there are some lessons learned from the road trip that I will apply on the way back:

  • I had rounded up on the food/drinks I had in the car with me and that worked well since stopping for takeout/drive through would have been stressful.

  • I drank a Gatorade on both days because I felt like my hands were going to cramp by the end of the day. I’ll do it again for the trek home.

  • Most people were masked at Interstate rest stops…but not always at the inside part of gas stations (I stopped a Love’s and Shell). On the way home, I’ll prioritize stopping at rest stops to avoid going into facilities at gas stations. Even though I am fully vaccinated – I am not comfortable being around people inside buildings that are not masked.

  • The motel worked well. Checking in was quick – with a person behind a clear barrier in the lobby – and the lobby was otherwise empty. The air conditioning/heating was on an outer wall of the room – not shared. I ran my air purifier for about 30 minutes before I took off my mask but that was probably not necessary. I’ll look for similar accommodation for the trek home.

  • Doing the drive from Maryland to Texas in two days is overwhelming if there are serious accidents that close the Interstate along the route. I arrived exhausted. Next time I make the trek, I’ll consider 3 days and plan some sight seeing along the route if there are not accidents that slow down the drive. My route home from this trip will be up to Springfield for a few days before heading back to Maryland….so a different route and shorter drive days.

Gleanings of the Week Ending April 24, 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.

Rising temperatures spark boom in Arctic lightning : Research Highlights – Lightning striking more than 10x as often as it did 10 years ago….the impact of climate change on the weather in the high north (particularly in Arctic Siberia).

This Bird Mimics an Entire Flock to Woo Females | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – The male superb lyrebird of Australia…imitates a mobbing flock (alarm calls warning of a predator in the area) to keep the female from leaving!

Top 25 birds of the week: April 2021! – Bird photographs….I enjoy them but also want to get outdoors and see birds!

Eating processed meat could increase dementia risk, researchers say -- ScienceDaily – A study with a large cohort (500,000 people) in the UK.

Photographer Travels Asia Capturing Beautiful Repeating Patterns – I liked the photographs for the repeating patterns but also how they capture the people and places. The photos capture the cultural landscape.

Stalking The Carnivorous Plants Of Big Thicket National Preserve – I can remember first reading about carnivorous plants in elementary school. I still find them fascinating.

How birds defend against brood parasites – I’ve already seen a pair of cowbirds at my feeder this spring; fortunately, they must have been migrating because I haven’t seen them again.

The Butterfly of Spring: Meet the Mourning Cloak – I haven’t seen one this spring…although I have in other years. All the ones I’ve seen in early spring are more battered that the one in the first picture!

Vitamin A for Nerve Cells – Another reason to eat those orange fruits and veggies. My favorites are carrots and butternut squash!

Washington’s Famed Tidal Basin and Cherry Trees Face Rising Waters – Planning initiated for how the area and its cherry trees could survive the rising waters in the coming decades. Some trees have already been lost.

Mini Road Trip: Brookside Gardens – April 2021 (2)

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Continuing the photographic tour of Brookside Gardens from yesterday’s post….

I always make an effort to see the deciduous magnolias blooming at Brookside and they were at the top of my ‘to see’ plan for this mini road trip. The first one I saw was quite a shock. All the flowers had been destroyed by the frosts. The tree won’t be producing any seeds this year. The drying remains of the flowers were glowing in the morning light….interesting looking but ultimately not positive for the tree.

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I would occasionally see a tree that I thought might have escaped the frost damage

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But a closer look always showed that the flowers were damaged. The might still be intact enough to draw insects and maybe produce seeds.

At least one tree had buds that looked normal – the late bloomer might be the one with the successful seed production this year.

The tulips are the other big display in April. Some of the beds also had fading hyacinths. I like to photograph tulips that appear to be glowing from within….and there were several situations that provided the opportunity for that.

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Benches at Brookside always look appealing to me but I rare sit down. Usually I am walking around, taking pictures of anything that looks interesting. Maybe I should try something different next time I visit….pick a spot and sit for a bit.

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A project idea – maybe take pictures of tree trunks that includes the name of the tree (many of the trees at Brookside are labeled like this. It would be good to have as a reference.

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I always like the stone sphere sculpture. Sometimes there are early butterflies that warm up in the sunshine around it…but I didn’t see any while I was there.

On the way back to the car, I stopped again to photograph the lush horsetail bed at one corner of the visitor center….and that was the last stop of my walk. The parking lot was filling up  and I was glad I had come early enough to avoid the crowd.

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Brookside Gardens – April 2021 (1)

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Like all gardens, Brookside Gardens changes quickly…always something different to see. In April, it’s time to be cautious around the Canada Geese. They can be very territorial around their nests. The one I encountered was evidently not nesting but walkers were watching it closely as they made their way past.

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I noticed a snoozing Mallard and American Robin in the same area.

Along the mulch (rather than paved) trails seem to be more comfortable for the birds. I heard some noises in the leaf litter under the bushes to the side of the trail and was patient enough to see it was a Wood Thrush….and got some portraits.

Of course, there are a lot of spring flowers and trees. Some of them (like the camellias) suffered some frost damage a few weekends ago (we had a couple of nights when the low got into the 20s). Still – a lot of the plants that bloom this time of year are cold tolerant.

The new leaves are often as interesting as flowers. The shapes and colors are worth noticing!

Tomorrow, I’ll continue the photographic tour of my latest visit to Brookside: deciduous magnolias and tulips.

Mini Road Trip: Mt Pleasant – April 2021 (2)

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Hiking back from the skunk cabbage patch at Howard County Conservancy’s Mt Pleasant, I noticed the tree canopy over the trail. It was a great spring day….cool, sunny with occasional puffy clouds.

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I looked at the shelf fungus again – from the top and bottom.

The larger woodpecker holes on a high branch seemed larger than last hike but I still didn’t see or hear the bird.

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I was surprised to see a patch of daffodils in the woods. They probably started out as a few bulbs….but had proliferated over the years.

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Ranger the Barred Owl was very relaxed. He opened his eyes when I first walked up to his area but then dozed – deciding I was not a threat.

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There were bees active at one of the hives.

The redbuds are blooming. I like that they bloom all over - even on the larger branches.

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As I was eating a protein bar for my lunch, I noticed a black feather….maybe crow-sized…

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And some dandelions.

The pear tree in the orchard is blooming. I hope it makes pears this year; the past few years the flowers or small fruit have been ruined by late frosts.

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Overall – an enjoyable April hike on a familiar trail.