Gleanings of the Week Ending April 16, 2022

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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.

Purple gallinule with chicks – I remember seeing an adult purple gallinule on a birding field trip in Florida. Aren’t the chicks cute? Little black fluffs.

Reproductive factors and dementia risk – Hurray! My life events skew toward reduced dementia risk…according to this study.

Macro photos reveal the often unseen beauty and diversity of slime molds – Hmmm…maybe I should hone my observational skills to find these on my next hike…attempt some macro photography of them.

As EV Sales Soar, Automakers Back Higher Fuel Standards – So glad that industry is finally onboard…projecting a ‘we can do it’ attitude. I’d rather society take action…build some optimism into our view about the future rather than being depressed by trends that seem dystopian.

Beginner’s Tips for Identifying Backyard Bird Nests – It’s the nesting time of year! Look…id…don’t disturb!

Ozone may be heating the plant more than we realize – We’ve been concerned about ozone in the upper atmosphere for years (hence the Montreal Protocol) but this study also points to ozone in the lower atmosphere (caused by chemical reactions between pollutants like vehicle exhaust fumes and other emissions) as contributing to climate change as well. Until now, we thought of lower atmosphere ozone as a health problem (I get headaches if I am outdoors on a high ozone day, for example). This research says that it also is contributing to climate change by affectioning ocean heat uptake.

American Lung Association Says EVs Save Lives – Good for our health….and also for the planet. I also noted that where I live now is in the American Lung Associations Tops 10 US urban areas at risk from airborne pollution…another reason to move away from this area!

New Technology Employed to Protect Pompeii – A four-legged robot used to gather data on structural and safety issues.

Flamingo that escaped from a zoo in Kansas is spotted once again in Texas 17 years later – The flamingo is a species from Tanzania….and must be a very lonely bird.

Brain charts for the human lifespan – Normative trajectories derived from over 100,000 MRI scans that allow quantification of individual variation. Figure 1 in the post can be enlarged by simply clicking on the image.

My 2019 in Review - Photos

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I managed to pick 26 pictures that were my favorites of the year either because I liked the way they turned out or because of a memory they evoked. I noticed some themes after I had collected them.

All except one are outdoors (although two were taken through my office window so I was standing indoors when I took them).

Many were pictures of plants: bare trees, witch hazel, red yucca seed pod, button bush, joe pye weed, cardoon, sunflowers, beautyberry, and red buckeye (nuts).

7 were pictures of animals or evidence of animals (other than birds): whelk shells, horseshoe crab beginning to roll over, northern red-bellied cooter (turtle), tiger swallowtail butterflies, cicada, spider, gray tree frog.

6 were pictures of birds or feathers: pelican, ibis, gallinule, bald eagle (wet), red-bellied woodpecker.

There are two sunrise pictures: one from my front porch on the first day of 2019 and one from October when we were camping in southern Virginia.

More than half the pictures are from places I go that are close to where I live (i.e. not requiring an overnight trip).

Water Birds of Central Florida

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Continuing the third day of the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival…today’s post is still based in the Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area…observing birds around the lakes rather than woodpeckers.

On bird that was new-to-me was the Limpkin. It’s a crane relative and lives in the Americas. Their diet is mollusks – dominated by apple snails.

Here’s a sequence of one walking.

Another bird that I had not seen before and that also eats apple snails is the Snail Kite. I was hunting on the same lake as the limpkin and it found a snail – took the snail to a post in the water to eat.

There were empty snail shells in the water so both birds were probably getting enough to eat. Most of the shells were the larger apple snail which is invasive to Florida but both birds can apparently eat them as easily as they do the native species.

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There were three kinds of white birds around: the juvenile Little Blue Herons,

(which grow up to have gray-blue adult plumage with some red on their neck and heads),

The Snowy Egret with its black legs and yellow feet,

And a Great Egret which was the largest of the three.

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There was a Great Egret in a tree near where we had a picnic lunch. Evidently he gets fed nearby and is named Pete.

There were two other herons beside the Little Blue: Tricolored Heron and

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A Great Blue Heron in the tall grass.

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Nearby there was a Sandhill Crane barely visible in the grass and its mate standing nearby. I took a picture of the one that was standing. Evidently sandhill cranes seen as pairs in Florida are resident;  they don’t migrate. There are cranes that come for the winter but don’t breed in Florida and they generally stay in larger groups.

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There were Anhinga around sunning themselves or preening. They are easier to photograph out of the water.

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The Common Gallinule has very large feet. To make it easier for them to walk on vegetation in the water.

There were a lot of insects that the bird was finding on the grasses near the water.

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A near relative – the Purple Gallinule – was doing the same thing.

There was a juvenile nearby. I liked the way the light changes the colors of the bird. It was like the color of peacocks and morpho butterflies…changing color with every slight variation in light. They too have big feet.

I saw a Pied-billed Grebe just as it turned away…got one picture.

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A Glossy Ibis was also enjoying the lakeshore…finding food.

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It was a good day for water birds. There were even more (white pelicans, some ducks) but they were too far out on the lakes to get reasonable pictures. I was pleased to see three new-to-me birds: snail kite, limpkin, and purple gallinule.

Zooming – January 2019

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I have a bigger than usual group of images for the zooming post this month – primarily from a trip from Florida last week. They’ll be more details in posts coming out over the next few weeks. So sit back and enjoy the slide show. It only includes one snow picture!