When I announced Darren’s new book (Tetrapod Zoology 1) I mentioned a Darren drawing that contained, among other things, an Australopithecine and a Socorro County calf in mortal danger. Here is the proof, in the form of his 2004 Christmas card (click on it to enlarge):The hominid is the (documented– look up recent material on …
Month: October 2010
Autumn Poems
An exchange between blogger- neighbor Anna Lear and me (go to her Laughing Raven for exquisite photos of our country, often focused on the small rather than the large), starting with her reaction to the photo below, prompted me to reprint my favorite Autumn poems. Campbell’s was written when he lived in Provence near Marseilles …
Why I miss New England in the fall…
Ruffed grouse and woodcock, in the oven as well as in the field, or rather woods. We have no substitute for the second west of the Mississippi… Photo by Tim Gallagher, on opening day– really near Ithaca NY but I bet it smells and feels the same…
Two quick links
Tim Gallagher just sent this link to a new study of passenger pigeon genetics.It is NOT a big mourning dove, and is closer despite its long tail to New World Columba like the bandtail. This might give more weight to some of my speculations in A Feathered Tempest (developed more succinctly in my recent Living …
A journey to Portugal
Porto was rainy and beautiful, an ancient coastal city home to the port industry and 270,000 residents. Just as we had dreamed, Porto felt both historic and comfortable. Stone buildings lined the brick and cobble streets, with balconies overflowing with plants and flowers. It seemed every home on each narrow street had a backyard vineyard, …
Bird Nerd Review Post
Heavy (bird) science warning! John Burchard asked me recently about the current evolutionary status of New World Vultures, and I realized my answer “reviewed” a book I had been meaning to. So consider the following to be my semi- official review of the amazing book The Inner Bird by Gary Kaiser. The very latest– this …
Miss Tig
Often photos here are either my point- and- shoots or pro- level stuff by the likes of Cat, Daniela, or Alpaugh saluki maven Herb Wells. But this recent one by John Burchard of his (“our”) Tigger and friend racing straight away from the camera after a jack is what it usually looks like.
Links at Last
I have had to drop some as not timely– but finally a feast of the good, the bad, and the strange. Good: first, and rather belatedly considering how long I have been following these people’s work (one has even bent an elbow at the Spur): three blogs by poets plus. First in line and I …
Bad State Fossils
I am obviously busy, but with enough time to quote rather than link. In that spirit let me excerpt a HILARIOUS rant, also from Locavore Hunter, on Bad State Fossils. What were these people (with the possible exception of the ones who picked the Utah Allosaurus) SMOKING? “I’m picturing the Kentucky state legislature being on …
The Elegant “.275”
Locavore Hunter, in a post on teaching new hunters to build their own rifles, has a nice quote on my favorite cartridge, perhaps more commonly called the 7 X 57: “The 7mm Mauser has a fascinating history that I won’t get into just now, but suffice to say that the sort of person who favors …