October 25, 2019

Free eBooks – October 2019

October 25, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

Beautiful images from 3 books published in the mid to late 1800s….

Takahashi, Eiji. Kodai moyo shikizu ko. Tokyo: Santokukai. 1850. Available from Internet Archive here. This book was a mix of scenes from nature and designs. I enjoyed both. The scene with herons reminded me of birds in the snow (I remembered years ago the Heron Cam at Cornell’s Sapsucker Pond showing a bird hunkered on their nest during a late season snow…keeping eggs warm. The design pages gave me lots of ideas for Zentangle® patterns!

17r 19 10.jpg — Colling, James Kellaway. ***Examples of English mediaeval foliage and coloured decoration, taken from buildings of the twelfth to the fifteenth century***. London: author and BT Batsford. 1874. Available from Internet Archive here. More potential Zentangle® patterns…and I like the botanical skew…so many leaf and petal shapes! Colling was an architect that was well known for his architectural and decoration drawings and art.

Picard, Edmond. El Moghreb al Aksa : une mission belge au Maroc. Bruxelles: F. Larcier. 1889. Available from Internet Archive here. The author was a Belgian jurist and writer…and patron of the arts. I happened upon this book about Morocco (written in French so I was browsing for the pictures) while the Arab world was in the news again with the Turkish surge into Syria. Of course, the scenes in much of the Arab world have changed considerable since the 1890s…and much of what was historically precious and valued by inhabitants is pockmarked or destroyed with weaponry that didn’t exist until well after the 1890s. The main emotion, even from afar, is sadness for the peoples and the places.

The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. "Zentangle" is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.

October 24, 2019

Birding through my office window – Oct. 2019

October 24, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

It’s been a busy October with activities away from home on more than half the days, but I’ve spent enough time in my office to see and photograph some birds. I’ve already posted about the red-bellied woodpecker. Here were the other ‘regulars’ around our deck: Carolina Chickadees

Mourning doves

Carolina wrens

White-breasted Nuthatch

There were other regulars around, but I didn’t get a picture of one this month: blue jays, titmice, chipping sparrows, downy woodpecker…to name a few.

House Finches used to be regulars at our feeder, but I haven’t seen any recently…and then there was a small group that came through. I hope the House Finches are recovering.

Now that more of the leaves are falling from the trees, the birds that stick around for the winter will be more visible. I wonder when the Dark-eyed Juncos will show up. They usually are around by mid to late November. Anticipation….

October 23, 2019

Gray Tree Frog – Again

October 23, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

I posted about a gray tree frog on our gas grill back in August. There was a frog in almost the same place again last week! The grill has a cover on it when we’re not using it, so the location is very sheltered…until my husband pulls off the cover. The frog always looks very sleepy when we first see him. I’m glad my husband is observant, and we haven’t accidentally cooked a frog!

The frog was not as easy to move off the grill this time. I finally got him onto the laminated card and moved him to the other side of the deck. During the process the golden yellow on the inner thigh was visible.

I did a search on my blog to find the post from earlier this year and discovered that we’d found a gray tree frog on our grill back in May 2018 as well. Could it be the same one? They live 7-9 years…so it’s possible.

Online Reference: Field Guide to Maryland’s Frogs and Toads

October 22, 2019

Last of CSA Veggies

October 22, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

Last week was the end of the regular season with are Community Supported Agriculture (Gorman Farms CSA). The share was robust as usual. I was surprised by the late season tomatoes. They had both purple and green cabbage; I chose the purple, of course. The choice table was overwhelming, but I decided on the fennel after staring at it for a minute…with big a big feathery top that made the reusable bag look too small. I’ll use that top part first (chopped up and combined with grated sweet potato to make a colorful chicken salad.

I haven’t quite kept up with the veggies this summer. The freezer is reasonably full and a bit more will go into it from the freeze from this last week. Nothing goes to waste! I’ll enjoy the tomatoes, mixed greens, and onions in at least one salad; maybe I’ll eat them fast enough to avoid putting them in the freezer to use in smoothies or soups. With the shift in seasons – I lean toward the soups. I’ll probably not buy any veggies in the produce section of the grocery store for at least 6 weeks!

I’ll miss the weekly newsletters and ‘about your harvest’ boards. Every season with the CSA is a learning experience.

This was the first year for popcorn. There were lots of my favorites too - veggies I’ve learned to love with the CSA (fennel, sweet potato leaves, all kinds of peppers, uncured sweet potatoes, all kinds of squashes, all kinds of tomatoes…the only thing I’ve not learned to love is eggplant). This year was a drought year and last year it was too wet. Our farmer pulled though with lots of good veggies in both years but the variety this year was greater than last. CSAs are a great way to ‘eat local.’

October 21, 2019

In the Middle Patuxent – Again

October 21, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

Last week, I was in the Middle Patuxent River again for a couple of mornings – a little downstream from the MPEA location that I posted about yesterday. The biggest difference was more water! It was wide enough to make using a seine possible although the D-nets worked well for collecting macro invertebrates as well. I celebrated that my last group found a hellgrammite!

Another plus for the site – no scrambling over rocks to set up field tables and supplies for identifying the critters we caught. The access was down a steep bank with roots making reasonable stairs; no one had a problem getting down even in clunky river boots. And once the students were in the river…magic happened. Everyone participated!

The site was close enough to one of the schools that the students walked down. The path was a paved tail through forest along the river…with housing developments sometimes visible on both sides.

The little streams that feed into the river are showing the erosion caused by the impervious surface that reduces the area’s ability to soak up water before it gets to the river.

But the trees are tall, and the days were sunny and just cool enough to realize it was fall. Excellent weather to be in the river.

October 20, 2019

Middle Patuxent River at MPEA

October 20, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

Earlier this month I was in the Middle Patuxent River twice (with two different high schools) at the Middle Patuxent Environmental Area (MPEA). We got there by 7:15 AM to be ready for the buses with students to arrive at 8. We parked near the South Wind Circle trailhead and hiked through the forest to the edge of the river. Then came the tricky part - climbing over the big rocks to get down into the river and on the side with enough cobbles to hold the field gear for water assessment. The towels in the second picture mark the route over the rocks. Sitting down on the highest rock turned out to the be safest way to start the crossing.

I took a few pictures of the quiet down in the stream after equipment was set up and before the students arrived. The river is very low this year but still picturesque.

Once the students arrive, there is a flurry of activity with boots and macroinvertebrate finds/identification and chemical tests of the water. The students spend 2 hours in the river then hike back up the hill. Then we have a break before more buses arrive with more students from the same school. During that break, I always take the path up hill across the river from the path where we arrived some privacy. The path is covered with fall leaves and there are many Christmas ferns along the border.

There is even time for a snack…and then we have another 2 hours of focused activity. At the end we pack up everything and the students help us carry all the gear up the hill before they get on the buses to go back to school.

October 19, 2019

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 19, 2019

October 19, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

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.

New report deepens understanding of wind-wildlife interactions -- ScienceDaily – This article overviews the report. The 24 page report is available here. The amount of collaboration between the industry, government, conservation, academic and scientific organizations is significant and ongoing.

Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park Celebrates Forests – Maybe I’ll go to Vermont for this festival next September – if it’s an annual event.

These surreal jarred fish tell an urgent story of extinction – The Royal D. Suttkus Fish Collection – nearly 8 million preserved fish…a window into how 20th century development changed the Southeastern US fish….a record of that destruction.

No bones about it, this protein slows down fracture-healing -- ScienceDaily - Abundance of ApoE may explain why older people have trouble healing broken bones. Turning off ApoE completely causes fat to be deposited in arteries (a cardiovascular problem) so treatment options may involve lowering ApoE for short periods of time.

O Canada! We Like Your Food Guide – Food guides from Canada (and some other countries) … some differences from the US. Canada merges ‘dairy’ in with protein foods rather than featuring it as an independent group.

Scientists Are Getting Better at Predicting Hurricane Intensity – A new algorithm has been developed to include the complicated physical mechanisms of tropical cyclone dynamics and the way they interact with upper-ocean and atmospheric circulation. It may reduce the error of tropical cyclone prediction within a 24-hour period by 16%. Every little bit of improvement in prediction means better preparations when an intense storm is approaching.

Artworks of the Dark Zone – From caves in Tennessee and Alabama. Artwork incised in mud and inscriptions. A slideshow.

How Penn State is Cutting Greenhouse Emissions in Half – and Saving Money – Kudos to Penn State. I wonder how many other universities are doing similar things.

Empty Meditative Landscapes Visualize the Tranquil Beauty of Silence – A visual treat

Ed Hawkins “Climate Stripes” May be the Most Important Science Image so Far in This Century – Effective visualization of lots of data…becomes information. The next step is action.

October 18, 2019

Red-Bellied Woodpecker

October 18, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

Back in July, we had adult and juvenile red-bellied woodpeckers on our deck. This month we’ve seen both male and female adult birds near our feeder. They appear to pick out the sunflower seeds from the mix. What a treat to see them at close range! These are larger than most of the other birds that come to our feeder and they seem to enjoy the vantage point from the roof or our covered deck before flying back the forest.

I think their nest is in the red maple that is at the edge of the forest. Maybe I’ll be able to see the cavity once the leaves are off the tree; right now, that tree has more leaves that just about any others around here (it held up better in the recent drought). The birds look very robust going into the change of seasons…better than they looked in the summer when they had their young fledging!

October 17, 2019

River Boot Tangle

October 17, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

I decided to make my river boots (that I use for field trips with high schoolers into rivers and streams looking for macroinvertebrates) unique with a Zentangle®.

I chose the gingo pattern – which has become one of my favorites since it was shared on the TanglePatterns site in late August. These boots are several years old and are scuffed from the river rocks near the foot part of the boots…but the surface I tangled was relatively smooth. I used a Sharpie and only worked on the outer side of the boots…so I still have room for more tangling.

So – even if I somehow take off my boots and they get in the pile of boots we have for the students…I’ll always be able to spot mine!

October 16, 2019

Flowers Unfurling

October 16, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

2019 09 IMG_5686.jpg — Back in September, I enjoyed photographing some late flowers at Brookside Gardens. I found myself more interested in the flowers that were just opening. It’s sometimes hard to fathom how the buds open into the flowers.

Other times there is a concentration of flower parts – smaller and more concentrated than the fully opened flower …like this hibiscus.

Sometimes there are many flowers on the same plant that are in the process of opening…like these angel‘s trumpets. I photographed many of the flowers and tried to order the sequence below to show the unfurling of the flowers.

October 15, 2019

Mt Pleasant in October

October 15, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

Last week, I got to Howard County Conservancy’s Mt Pleasant just as the sun was coming up over the place. There were a few fall colors even with the drought which is causing a lot of the leaves to change and fall very quickly.

We were working with high school students --- assessing the water in the Davis Branch with abiotic and biotic sampling. The water was very low.

We found some macroinvertebrates…but everyone was more enthusiastic than usual with other living things we found that weren’t part of the assessment. This large spider caused quite a lot of excitement!

I took a few pictures of fall plants between the early morning and late morning groups. Much of the meadow is turning brown early. Some of the gardens closer to the building may be getting a little watering and are more colorful.

October 14, 2019

A Sunrise…and Sunset

October 14, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

The day we took our trip to Smith Island, we were up to catch the sunrise from the balcony of our hotel…looking toward the Somers Cover Marina in Crisfield MD.

After the boat to Smith Island, we headed toward home and saw the sunset just before we got to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in the car.

Colorful bookends to a day on the water.

October 13, 2019

Trip to Smith Island – Part II

October 13, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

Continuing the post about our trip to Smith Island, MD last weekend….

Brown Pelicans were the big bird show of the trip. I managed to get some birds in flight as herring and mackerel were thrown off the back of the boat and the birds flew in to get the fish before it sank below the water’s surface.

I took a series of pictures of a pelican flying away after getting a fish…and landing on the water…feet spread out.

There was another bird – close to the boat that took off from the water – a strong stroke of its wings as it raised the legs and then the big wings fully extended as it gained altitude over the water.

The pelicans use the man-made structures in or near the water like pilings,

Or partially collapsed buildings,

Or jetties. Other birds like cormorants and gulls also enjoy the same structures. But the pelicans were the numerous and the biggest. There were lots of juveniles…the pelican rookery had a good year.

October 12, 2019

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 12, 2019

October 12, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

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.

Climate change may cut soil's ability to absorb water -- ScienceDaily – Climate change impacts everything. The models only model pieces of the puzzle. This study was looking specifically at water and soil – not currently included in models..

The Iguana Invasion – Cool Green Science – They’re a common sight in Florida….and the state is now advising people to kill them. No talk of eating them like they do in their native range further south and the Caribbean where they are farmed.

Sigiriya, the 'Lion Fortress' of Sri Lanka – A Heritage Site that survived by being hidden by forests…and being remote enough to not be marred by modern weapons of war.

Impostor syndrome is more common than you think -- ScienceDaily – Seeking social support outside academic (or workplace) specialization seems to be the best coping strategy.

Pregnant Moms' Air Pollution Exposure May Affect Babies' Health | The Scientist Magazine® - Research is ongoing. The first correlation was between air pollution and low birthweight/preterm birth. Current research is on other health consequences in the early life of the baby and beyond…looking beyond correlation to the underlying mechanism.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: October – The headline picture is of a Green Heron!

BBC - Future - The simple words that save lives – Communication in an emergency…if it goes wrong…tragedy.

Despite growing burden of diet-related disease, medical education does not equip students to provide high quality nutritional care to patients -- ScienceDaily - Researchers call for improved nutrition education to be integrated into the medical curriculum. This makes sense to me…but why hasn’t it been done long before now?

Iceland's Seabird Colonies Are Vanishing, With "Massive" Chick Deaths – Kittiwakes, puffins, murres, fulmars – Chicks die…nests with eggs abandoned. Total breeding failure for many of the birds. For the Puffins it has been happening since 2005. Lots of changes caused by climate change funneling pollution from the North America and Europe to the North Atlantic: mercury ubiquitous and rising fast in some areas, brominated flame retardant, pesticides, PCBs, chemical laced microplastics. A caption under one of the pictures: “In Iceland, levels of PCBs and other contaminants are so high in murre eggs that people shouldn’t eat them.”

October 11, 2019

Trip to Smith Island – Part I

October 11, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

2019 10 IMG_0901.jpg — Last weekend, we took a day trip to Smith Island arranged by Delmarva Birding. We departed from Somers Cove Marina in Crisfeld, MD about 8 AM.

2019 10 IMG_0721.jpg — The day was sunny a very breezy. The temperature was chilly enough that we appreciated the plastic that blocked the wind for us while we were on the boat crossing Tangier Sound toward Ewell. We past Glenn Martin National Wildlife Refuge along the way…lots of pelicans and cormorants.

Goat Island is across from Ewell…and the goat seem interested in boats coming into the marina.

We browsed the Smith Island Cultural Center then walked down Smith Island Road to look at birds in the wetlands there. There were small birds which I didn’t manage to photograph and ducks that were far enough away that they were silhouettes. A Great Egret was close to the road we were walking down.

So was a Tricolored Heron. The bird must have been in one of its favorite spots for fishing since it ignored our group and continued its activity.

Back on the boat we headed around to Tylerton where we had lunch (island made crab cakes and Smith Island Cake) at Drum Point Market. The bathroom had black-eye-susans painted on the walls!

We walked around afterwards seeing the stained-glass windows of the church, heron shutters, and the ‘welcome’ painted on a building.

Several houses had pomegranates as part of their landscaping.

Then we were back on the boat…and more birding. There was a group of Double-crested Cormorants with one in the center…wings spread. I couldn’t resist taking slightly different angles of the birds clustered around that one!

There were some Caspian and Royal Terns on a beach. I think most of the terns in my pictures are Royal Terns.

I’ve saved all the pelican pictures for part II of this blog post…coming out on Sunday!

October 10, 2019

Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge

October 10, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

Last weekend we made a trip to the Eastern Shore of Maryland. We stopped at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge along the way and drove around the wild life loop.

2019 10 IMG_0362 clip.jpg — Blackwater was the first place I saw a Bald Eagle in the wild (back in 1990) and now they are even more numerous in the refuge. This time the eagle we saw was in the far distance. I zoomed as much as I could and got an OK picture for identification.

There were also quite a few Great Egrets. The breeze was enough to ruffle their feathers.

But the big drama was between a turtle and juvenile Great Blue Heron. I saw the turtle first. It seemed to notice our car – which we were using as a blind. I already had the window rolled down.

Then I noticed a heron a little to the left of the turtle….and the heron started walking toward the turtle.

The heron stepped up behind the turtle and the turtle withdrew into the shell.

Then the heron stepped on the turtle and I was holding down the button to let my camera take pictures as fast as possible…doing the best I could to hold the camera steady. Did the heron mistake the turtle for a rock? The turtle must have wobbled and the heron extended its wings for balance. The turtle plopped into the water with a splash…and the heron perched on the snag that had previously held the turtle.

October 09, 2019

Cicada from my Office Window

October 09, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

Back in August, I noticed a cicada on the screen of my office window. I was there for quite some time, so I went outside and zoomed to get a picture of it. Several days later, it was still there, and I decided it was probably time to collect it. I opened my office window and took off the screen…gently pulled the cicada from the screen.

It sat on the table in my office – protected in a small box – until a few days ago when I finally got around to taking a closer look and some photographs. It’s not a periodic cicada…but otherwise I didn’t determine the exact kind it is. It’s probably a male because the end of the abdomen is not pointed enough to be a female.

I took some pictures with the macro lens clipped to the cell phone. It’s hard to get the whole insect in focus with the shallow depth-of-field. In the two pictures below the eye and head is focused in one….and the wing joint is crisp in the second.

The cicadas are already silent for this year. The eggs are laid, and the larvae will begin their long development. We’ll have more adults emerge next spring. And in 2021 we might get the emergence of a large periodic cicada brood; that will be a noisy summer.

October 08, 2019

Beautyberry as Zentangle® Prompt

October 08, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

When I was at Mount Vernon in December there was an American Beautyberry growing at the edge of the bowling green. I took a picture of the bush then zoomed in on a stem with berries.

Nature is a great source of prompts for tangle patterns…and the purple clusters of the beautyberry are one of the easier examples. There is not much deconstruction required…the pattern is just some parallel dashed lines for the stem and filling the spaces between the stem lines with the tipple pattern. Easy!

October 07, 2019

Trees with Seeds

October 07, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

2019 09 IMG_5444.jpg — This time a year it’s easy to spot trees with seeds. Some are very colorful like the magnolias (they remind me a little or red M&Ms)

And the dogwoods.

2019 09 IMG_5455.jpg — Others are mostly brown like the golden rain trees

And maples (some trees shed their samaras in the spring…others, like these at Brookside Gardens, wait until the fall)

And red buckeyes with the buckeye nut showing where the mottled brown and green husk has cracked.

2019 10 IMG_5732.jpg — Then there are seeds that are still green…that will take more time to mature and dry…ready to be shed next spring. The tulip poplar seed pods are still closed in the fall…the seeds not yet mature. We always accumulate a lot of tulip poplar seeds in our gutters in the spring.

The sycamore seeds will get softer…the balls feeling almost ‘furry’ by the time they break apart dispersing the small seeds in the spring. Each bump on this immature seed ball will become a sycamore seed! When I show tulip poplar and sycamore seeds to preschoolers on spring field trips, they are always awestruck my how small they are compared to the trees!

October 06, 2019

Birds through my Office Window

October 06, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

The leaves are starting to swirl…but there are still enough on the trees to block the view of birds there. I’ve been lucky enough to catch some coming to our deck for seed or water. There was a Blue Jay with a scruffy head; most that I see are better looking. Sometimes the birds come alone…sometimes with buddies. They seem to like investigating the contents of the gutters.

The Carolina Chickadee was in a rush….I barely got one picture!

My favorite this month was the White-breasted Nuthatch. The birds seemed to be coming to the feeder very frequently. Did they have a late season nestlings they were feeding? They have such distinctive postures….always seem to move with precision.